UPDATE 7/29: Was the State Board right to approve furloughs?

If DeKalb teachers are not livid about the fact that the largest education organization in DeKalb used their future retirement income as a bargaining chip to save teachers furloughs, while at the same time refusing to openly and adamantly demand cuts in the extra one hundred million dollars DeKalb pays in administrative salaries compared to Fulton, then it is extremely hard to have any sympathy for anything DeKalb teachers are suffering, including the teaching conditions, and the violations of their rights as teachers, under the Crawford Lewis and company.

Of course when DeKalb teachers have made an organization that represents administrators their main spokesperson, it’s hard to have any sympathy in the first place. When administrators who pad the payroll to the tune of an extra one hundred million compared to Fulton, are also members of the same organization that you expect to look out for you, well, what do you expect?

• Link
• Report this comment

What are the demographics of the Georgia legislative body?

• Link
• Report this comment

I was shocked to hear of the furlough news. Now, I am afraid of further required furloughs since the board may vote for our contracts to be “open” to almost any changes. My main concern is for the students. Teachers are already stressed to the max with all of the required testing and data collecting. Each day it seems more and more changes are decided by an autonomous board of education. It is difficult to understand how those on the board expect the schools to obtain and/or maintain the standards set before us when we observe more and more acts reflecting how little we are appreciated or supported. In the end, it ultimately affects the students in many negative ways. Isn’t educating our future citizens enough of a reminder to think about these latest decisions with the main focus being on the education of our young people? Teacher performance and student performance are linked together. We are placing teachers in an evermore stressful environment that will ultimately be detrimental to student performance.

• Link
• Report this comment

I sometimes wonder if this state can get any more backwards than it already is. sigh

• Link
• Report this comment

Thinking, yes…$10-13 million, according to state officials. (It’s in my post that hasn’t shown up yet, too…)

• Link
• Report this comment

One thing nobody’s talking about:

Metro districts pay teachers much more than the state base. For most veteran teachers, the state’s portion of his/her salary is roughly half (a higher percentage for new teachers, and even lower for seasoned veterans). So, If the state yanks three day’s pay, it’s not really three full days’ pay. The counties are already paying the rest. Systems like Cherokee and Fulton need to be transparent about where their share of the savings from these furloughs will be going. Is it to something more important than paying teachers to prepare for the school year? And why not cut 1 1/2 days instead of all 3?

And lets get this straight: a majority of the work teachers do to get ready for the school year can’t be done from home. Unpacking boxes of books, setting up learning centers, unpacking, sorting through and organizing manipulatives, games, art supplies, making bulletin boards, arranging the furniture, setting up listening stations, procuring materials from the media center for the first unit(s)etc. None of this is lesson planning which most teachers do on their own time, anyway; it’s physical classroom setup. Many schools were painted or retiled/carpeted over the summer, or are alltogether new schools. Everything, absolutely everything is in boxes. This can’t be done in 2 days….especially if one of them is meet-and-greet when the parents and students are going to be there.

If your child attends in Cherokee or Fulton, and if you show up to meet-and-greet or the first day to a classroom that looks ready for learning, thank your teacher. He/she worked for no pay so your child wouldn’t be affected. And most teachers will because they’re like that.

• Link
• Report this comment

Here’s a question for the group. If a furlough is not acceptable, what aspects of the education budget are not necessary? What programs, or budgets would you reduce or cease?

• Link
• Report this comment

DeKalb Conservative:

Almost everyone who works in the district office. They tie themselves down with meetings with each other and rarely ever darken the door of a school. Back when I was in the classroom fulltime, we used to joke that the entire admin building could be abducted by aliens and not a schoolchild would notice. Admin services to keep: payroll and benefits depts., facilities depts, and purchasing. And possibly content area coordinators. Seriously, though, we might save money on facilities with a better paid “facilities manager” instead of a head custodian at every school, and give him/her a facilities budget to use with private contractors. County maintenance is wasteful–one guy to change a doorknob while two watch and a fourth sits in the van with the air running so it doesn’t heat up.

And speaking of facilities, in DeKalb, you have such wonderful, wonderful small schools. And I know no one wants to see his/her neighborhood school close. But honestly, it’s very, very expensive. Think about it: say you’ve got two elementary schools with 200 and 300 students respectively. Imagine how much more cheaply you can serve them in one school of 500. Same number of teachers, same pupil/teacher ratio, but only one principal, one secretary, one site to pay taxes on and maintain, one media specialist, one larger library with more books instead of two small ones with fewer…etc. I understand the precious blessings of a small school, but they come with a very hefty pricetag.

• Link
• Report this comment

Furloughed these first two days but working at school anyway- how many other jobs require folks work for free?

• Link
• Report this comment

Brooks County and Valdosta City Schools told Perdue to stick it and will not be taking furlough days at this time.

• Link
• Report this comment

Why not just cut the school year by two weeks and then cut out all the ridiculous indoctrination and fluff that takes up so much of the school day to make up for the first week and actually teach until the last day of school rather than having a week of parties and field days and just general chaos during the last week of school. Kids get more summer (my kids learn as much in one summer as they learn in a school year) – schools get more efficient. Teachers have a long enough summer to work on advanced degrees or get a summer job which would more than make up for two weeks of lost pay. Everyone wins.

• Link
• Report this comment

Leadership starts at the top. Same issues playing out here are the ones that played out in Atlanta furloughs. School administration, starting at the top should be on the front lines subjecting themselves to the same furloughs they want to push downstream. I think alot of people have taken offense that the Atlanta mayor’s office hasn’t imposed the same furloughs as where immediately down for police and fire
– isn’t if funny how police, fire and education are always the first programs to go when times get tough?

Since we’re talking about saving money, another consideration would be why does school start in the middle of August when the temperature outside is the hottest? The overhead to maintain temperature in these buildings during the hottest time of the year must be outrageous.

• Link
• Report this comment

Off topic, but very important to teachers- What about the new teacher evaluation instrument? What do teachers think?

• Link
• Report this comment

Why would anyone work for free?

• Link
• Report this comment

Get what you pay for.

Alabama now tells Georgia jokes…sad.

But really, what has all this school nonsense have to do with Sonny’s $27 million fish park is South Georgia?

Leave your head in your butt, drop put of school, go fish, continue to let the wealthy Republicans pull your strings and make fortunes off your ignorance…

Morons.

• Link
• Report this comment

Someone asked what other items could be cut to make up the budget?
Start with looking at testing. The state of Georgia spends about 35 million dollars on student testing each year. 10.7 million of that is spent on tests required just by the state – not tests required by NCLB. Georgia spent 23 million last year to outside contractors for printing, developing, distributing, and scoring the CRCT.

Another place money could be cut is at the state DOE. Look at some of the jobs they have. I know of two former principals who were both kindly asked to resign who then got jobs with the state. Some of these jobs are ridiculous.

In the last few years, support positions have been added to improve test scores and graduation rates – these should be the first to go in tough times – LET THE TEACHERS TEACH – (not just test prep) and you will get better results. Sorry, but do we really need Literacy Coaches, Math Coaches, Graduation Coaches?

• Link
• Report this comment

The retirement money Dekalb chose to use was NOT TRS money, it was a “perk” they used to match 403b contributions. Not every teacher had a 403b and I think Dekalb was one of the few systems in the area that did a matching contribution. I know our system doesn’t match, it just allows us to make contributions pre-tax from our paychecks.

• Link
• Report this comment

How is Dooly County going to achieve the 3 days of furloughs? They started school July 17 and have already used 4 planning days before the furloughs were announced.

• Link
• Report this comment

Postings seem to get lost today.

I know that Kathy Cox and Sonny Purdue must be extremely proud of their “accomplishments” in making education in Georgia even more of a joke than it was. The irony, of course, is that many teachers were so disgusted with Barnes that they voted for Purdue. Well, the cure here is certainly worse than the disease, isn’t it? As long as the people of this state continue to vote for these moron Republicans, they should not be surprised at the results. Kathy Cox could not even manage her personal household budget, so it should come as no surprise that she is incapable of managing something as important as education. But the point here is that education is not important, so Kathy Cox is actually probably the best face to show the world what education in Georgia means.

I would not be surprised to see a good bit of passive-aggressive behavior on the part of teachers this year, especially towards the Republican parents. We all agree that most teachers are not in a position simply to walk away, so they will continue to work for a system that completely devalues them and their contribution. When you are not in a position to do the little extras this year, please feel free to quote Ms. Cox: “It kinda stinks.”

The truth is that teachers matter more than these people on this blog who spend their time bashing them. If you teacher-bashers don’t do your job, so what? Many of you teacher-bashers are wasting your lives in completely meaningless, boring, wasteful jobs. Go back to your cubes, rats. No wonder you hate those who have meaning in their lives, given what you live through every day.

But teachers matter. Teachers matter in ways that you would never understand because teaching is a vocation, although the likes of Purdue and Cox are doing everything possible to make it just a job, no more meaningful or valuable than what a cube rat does.

Take heart teachers and start looking for new positions outside of Georgia. I know that this year will be hard, but you can rise above whatever the despicable Republicans throw at you.

Here’s a poem that may speak to you:

God Has Pity On Kindergarten Children

God has pity on kindergarten children,
He pities school children — less.
But adults he pities not at all.

He abandons them,
And sometimes they have to crawl on all fours
In the scorching sand
To reach the dressing station,
Streaming with blood.

But perhaps
He will have pity on those who love truly
And take care of them
And shade them
Like a tree over the sleeper on the public bench.

Perhaps even we will spend on them
Our last pennies of kindness
Inherited from mother,

So that their own happiness will protect us
Now and on other days.

Yehuda Amichai

My advice to you teachers is to do whatever you must to get through this year (remember, no extras for any Republican parents) and simply forget about Georgia and all the benighted, malevolent, bellicose moron Republicans that run this so-called state like a plantation. Run away from here. Leave. Breathe free and follow your precious vocation somewhere that has some light.

• Link
• Report this comment

Some problem with posting today.

I know that Kathy Cox and Sonny Purdue must be extremely proud of their “accomplishments” in making education in Georgia even more of a joke than it was. The irony, of course, is that many teachers were so disgusted with Barnes that they voted for Purdue. Well, the cure here is certainly worse than the disease, isn’t it? As long as the people of this state continue to vote for these moron Republicans, they should not be surprised at the results. Kathy Cox could not even manage her personal household budget, so it should come as no surprise that she is incapable of managing something as important as education. But the point here is that education is not important, so Kathy Cox is actually probably the best face to show the world what education in Georgia means.

I would not be surprised to see a good bit of passive-aggressive behavior on the part of teachers this year, especially towards the Republican parents. We all agree that most teachers are not in a position simply to walk away, so they will continue to work for a system that completely devalues them and their contribution. When you are not in a position to do the little extras this year, please feel free to quote Ms. Cox: “It kinda stinks.”

The truth is that teachers matter more than these people on this blog who spend their time bashing them. If you teacher-bashers don’t do your job, so what? Many of you teacher-bashers are wasting your lives in completely meaningless, boring, wasteful jobs. Go back to your cubes, rats. No wonder you hate those who have meaning in their lives, given what you live through every day.

But teachers matter. Teachers matter in ways that you would never understand because teaching is a vocation, although the likes of Purdue and Cox are doing everything possible to make it just a job, no more meaningful or valuable than what a cube rat does.

Take heart teachers and start looking for new positions outside of Georgia. I know that this year will be hard, but you can rise above whatever the despicable Republicans throw at you.

Here’s a poem that may speak to you:

God Has Pity On Kindergarten Children

God has pity on kindergarten children,
He pities school children — less.
But adults he pities not at all.

He abandons them,
And sometimes they have to crawl on all fours
In the scorching sand
To reach the dressing station,
Streaming with blood.

But perhaps
He will have pity on those who love truly
And take care of them
And shade them
Like a tree over the sleeper on the public bench.

Perhaps even we will spend on them
Our last pennies of kindness
Inherited from mother,

So that their own happiness will protect us
Now and on other days.

Yehuda Amichai

My advice to you teachers is to do whatever you must to get through this year (remember, no extras for any Republican parents) and simply forget about Georgia and all the benighted, malevolent, bellicose moron Republicans that run this so-called state like a plantation. Run away from here. Leave. Breathe free and follow your precious vocation somewhere that has some light.

• Link
• Report this comment

It is interesting that the fiscal conservatives in Atlanta tell us these cuts are necessary due to falling revenues but maintain the sales tax holiday. If tough choices are encessary then make them and cancel the sales tax holiday. Let everyone share the problem. Sadly the state Republicans swept to power by the teachers are trying to court votes with their antics. However the legislature should be mindful that next year is an election year.

It will be ironic if Roy Barnes who was swept FROM power by the teachers is restored TO power by the teachers due to Sonny Perdue’s war on public education.

• Link
• Report this comment

I know that Kathy Cox and Sonny Purdue must be extremely proud of their “accomplishments” in making education in Georgia even more of a joke than it was. The irony, of course, is that many teachers were so disgusted with Barnes that they voted for Purdue. Well, the cure here is certainly worse than the disease, isn’t it? As long as the people of this state continue to vote for these moron Republicans, they should not be surprised at the results. Kathy Cox could not even manage her personal household budget, so it should come as no surprise that she is incapable of managing something as important as education. But the point here is that education is not important, so Kathy Cox is actually probably the best face to show the world what education in Georgia means.

I would not be surprised to see a good bit of passive-aggressive behavior on the part of teachers this year, especially towards the Republican parents. We all agree that most teachers are not in a position simply to walk away, so they will continue to work for a system that completely devalues them and their contribution. When you are not in a position to do the little extras this year, please feel free to quote Ms. Cox: “It kinda stinks.”

The truth is that teachers matter more than these people on this blog who spend their time bashing them. If you teacher-bashers don’t do your job, so what? Many of you teacher-bashers are wasting your lives in completely meaningless, boring, wasteful jobs. Go back to your cubes, rats. No wonder you hate those who have meaning in their lives, given what you live through every day.

But teachers matter. Teachers matter in ways that you would never understand because teaching is a vocation, although the likes of Purdue and Cox are doing everything possible to make it just a job, no more meaningful or valuable than what a cube rat does.

Take heart teachers and start looking for new positions outside of Georgia. I know that this year will be hard, but you can rise above whatever the despicable Republicans throw at you.

Here’s a poem that may speak to you:

God Has Pity On Kindergarten Children

God has pity on kindergarten children,
He pities school children — less.
But adults he pities not at all.

He abandons them,
And sometimes they have to crawl on all fours
In the scorching sand
To reach the dressing station,
Streaming with blood.

But perhaps
He will have pity on those who love truly
And take care of them
And shade them
Like a tree over the sleeper on the public bench.

Perhaps even we will spend on them
Our last pennies of kindness
Inherited from mother,

So that their own happiness will protect us
Now and on other days.

Yehuda Amichai

My advice to you teachers is to do whatever you must to get through this year (remember, no extras for any Republican parents) and simply forget about Georgia and all the benighted, malevolent, bellicose moron Republicans that run this so-called state like a plantation. Run away from here. Leave. Breathe free and follow your precious vocation somewhere that has some light.

• Link
• Report this comment

Elaine– the Governor, in addition to furloughs, announced that each school district was to receive an ADDITIONAL 3 percent cut in QBE funding (on top of the cuts already applied AND the ongoing austerity cuts). This has been lost in all the furlough talk, but it amounts to another $4.8 million in Cherokee School District, on top of the furlough (which amounts to $2.2 million in state salary dollars). Cherokee is using reserves to cover some of that, and applying the local supplement savings to bridge the rest of the gap, plus extending the furlough to all employees who work 190 days or more (including Superintendent). They were very transparent about it at the School Board meeting last week, and it is all posted in a document on the school district web site.

• Link
• Report this comment

Has anyone heard of Atlanta Public Schools’ decision regarding furloughs?

I’m against furloughs for the simple reason that it continues to send a message that education is of little importance to Georgia’s economy, Georgia’s quality of life, and to the future of Georgia itself. We can’t keep turning out graduates at the low end of the spectrum and expect things to get better.

• Link
• Report this comment

Federal law does not require that states test children in 1st and 2nd grade. How about if the state cuts CRCT testing for those kids? How much would that save? Plus, it is insane to have six-year-olds filling in bubble sheets.

• Link
• Report this comment

Crawford Lewis is a joke!

• Link
• Report this comment

So an aspiring teacher like myself shoud consider other options huh?

• Link
• Report this comment

I say, for the next year, Sonny and the Georgia Legislature work for FREE!!!!!

If I did my job like they do theirs, I would get FIRED!

• Link
• Report this comment

Enter your comments here

• Link
• Report this comment

$27 million for a fishing hole, $23 million for a hole of another sort–the CRCT, in DeKalb alone hundreds of thousands wasted on “administration” . . . seems to me there’s plenty of ways to make up funding deficits that don’t involve compromising our children’s education

• Link
• Report this comment

Amen, ShooShee! Didn’t we listen to Dr. Lewis last spring on a pre-recorded video; one where we had to sign off that we attended? Wasting time and resources seems to be de riguer in DeKalb!

• Link
• Report this comment

I have an idea…..if the crazy DeKalb Board of Education will not wise up and get rid of Crawford Lewis, then let’s get rid of the DeKalb Board of Education…Sara Copelin-Wood, Zepora Roberts, Jay Cunningham, Eugene Walkers and all of their cohorts. Shhhhhhhh. The DeKalb Board of Education is worse than the Clayton Board of Education, and that is saying something. The media needs to focus on the board members…they are the ones who put up with that pitiful Crawford Lewis. Fellow DeKalb Citizens: Let’s Erase the Board in the next Election!!!

• Link
• Report this comment

When will the Gwinnett Superintendent be taking his furlough?

It has been through his poor leadership that the schools find themselves in this mess. I have lost confidence in his ability.

Perhaps if they hadn’t wasted Tens of millions of dollars on a duplication of a testing device (GATEWAY) or buy the Taj Mahal (ISC)and pretend they needed all the office space, when they really don’t. They would not have to ask the teachers to be “true professionals”.

In reality, if the superintendent had been a true professional this would not be necessary.

Teacher’s Union anyone? I’m tired of getting stuff jammed down my throat without a lick of consent (furloughs, increased class sizes (IE2))

• Link
• Report this comment

Dear “Happiest Teacher”,

Anyone who gloats like that while his or her fellow professionals are suffering may not be fit to be involved in the field of education. Do you treat your students with such an utter lack of empathy? Shame on you.

• Link
• Report this comment

Thank you School Level Administrator. What you described is so true. Even we veterans want that classroom to be perfect on open house day for the children we will spend the next 10 months with. Despite being undervalued and underappreciated, we teach because we understand that what we do has a positive impact for the children we encounter. It’s so much more than just a test score!

• Link
• Report this comment

While I understand cuts are necessary, I truly find it mind-boggling that our elected officials could not come up with a better way to save money than to introduce furloughs for teachers. The only solace I have right now is that Perdue can’t run for reelection to the governor’s seat. Sonny, you’re absolutely useless and worst kind of politician. How about we stop funding pre-kindergarten programs with lottery funds ($337 mil plus). Instead of preparing kids to enter kindergarten (really?) and subsidizing day care for parents who can afford it, let’s spend that money to teach children and young adults who have a more immediate opportunity to contribute to the economy in the near future. Even if that program only subsidized care for at-risk families and families who qualify based on financial need, which I could support, the money left over would be an enormous boon to the educational budget.

Download your state’s budget here: http://www.opb.state.ga.us/

• Link
• Report this comment

They better not even think of using HOPE scholarship money for anything else. EVER

• Link
• Report this comment

Zoemol you are completely missing the point.

Bottom line whether it was technically TRS or not, GAE in Dekalb used monies that teachers were counting on in retirement as a bargaining chip for restoring teacher furlough, even though DeKalb spends one hundred million a year more in administrative salaries than Fulton.

Where was the loud, vocal, and public demand from DeKalb GAE that Lewis cut some fat from the extra one hundred million in administrative salaries so that a teacher’s retirement won’t be affected in the future? I’ve yet to see a statement in the paper that GAE pushed that option but that it was denied.

Did GAE push for administrative positions to be cut, seeing as there is an extra one hundred million in salaries compared to Fulton, or didn’t they? And if they didn’t shouldn’t teachers feel that GAE placed a higher priority on protecting administrative deadweight than they did teachers retirement?

And, if this is indeed the case, how should teachers feel if an organization they joined to look out for them, considered looking out for administrative deadweight positions a higher priority than looking out for teachers retirement?

And if DeKalb teachers can’t, or won’t question why the largest organization in DeKalb thought losing retirement benefits was the better tradeoff for keeping furlough days, and thought losing retirement benefits was worth it to keep the one hundred million dollars extra in administrative salaries intact, why should anyone feel sympathy for DeKalb teachers when they say their concerns are not being heard?

• Link
• Report this comment

don’t like the furloughs, but am glad to have a job. The post about teachers not being able to do at home what they do during pre-planning is spot on. I am going to do the best I can with the time they give me. I alredy get to school about 45 min to 1 hour early everyday in order to get things done. When not coaching, I stay for 30-45 minutes after we are contractually allowed to leave to wrap things up. I already work at least an hour and a half everyday for free, and it gets very frustrating to be given less in time, pay, and respect while being expected to do more.

The previous poster is correct. Teaching is becoming more of just a “job” for me…..Georgia will never make gains in its educational rankings until the politicians and the citizens of this state make education a priority. There is nothing more important for the future of this state than the education of its children. No matter how much I love teaching, the kids, etc. you can only bend so far.

• Link
• Report this comment

Want to save money? I know of 2 jobs in every elementary school that are a waste of money: Literacy coach and Math coach….

I am an elementary school teacher and did not see either one in my classroom at all …. worthless

Eliminate these jobs and no furloughs are needed…

• Link
• Report this comment

School level administrator, you can make the case that showing up on furlough days in the long run devalues the children. When teachers allow themselves to be treated this way, and show up and open themselves up to injury without job protections in place, it sends a message that teachers can and will tolerate being utterly disrespected, abused even, and that they will tolerate having their voices and concerns as to what’s best for students ignored as well.

In the long run, sending the message that you will tolerate your concerns not being addressed is bad for students, as they lose the voice of the those in the school best suited to speak to their concerns.

I would have far more respect for an administrator who told their staff to respect themselves by not reporting on furlough days and while I would ask for the children that your lessons be in place, maybe if enough parents and enough media see bare walls and hallways, and see the effects of this furlough, then maybe our legislative leaders will conduct themselves in such a way that this doesn’t happen again.

Would school level administrator praise a mother whose husband slaps her in the face repeatedly for staying in the home for the sake of the children? Then why would school level administrator praise teachers who are being slapped in the face and taking it silently for the sake of the children?

• Link
• Report this comment

I forgot in above post. Everyone is welcome to join us. A bunch of us are going to go up to Perry, Ga this long weekend (we are furloughed Friday) with our campers and boats. We want to use the nice boat ramps that Perdue had built with tax dollars. Does anyone know exactly which one is closest to So. Ga via I-75.

• Link
• Report this comment

Where I live in Gwinnett County there are 4 new parks within 2 miles of each other as well as a new multi-million dollar stadium. My daughter’s 1st grade class this year will have 20 students and no parapro. Last year there were 17 students in her class. Real estate has been declining for 3 years and unemployment started creeping up in 2007. Therefore, we knew the shortfall was coming. Guess it is obvious what matters most in Georgia.

• Link
• Report this comment

I totally understand the need to balance the budget but two important factors concern me. The more educated you are, the more money per day you pay. In addition, I am in a 2 teacher family, so we have been affected x2. There are MANY households where both spouses are teachers, and I have not heard any reference to this. We have 3 advanced degrees between us and have over 15 years expereince in the classroom. This 3 day furlough is costing us $450 a month for the next 5 months and not the state has agreed to approve up to 7 more??? I don’t know how you would figure it out, but I wonder how many HOUSEHOLDS this teacher furlough is affecting – not how many teachers individually it is affecting. I am blessed to have a job – really I am! But with up to 7 more furlough days you have to wonder how this really affects the ECONOMY- not just the state budget. With the 3 day furlough, you have taken 120 million out of the economy. This is 120 million less in spending. It is bound to HURT the economy more than help it. On a side note… I have not even gotten my state tax refund yet.. the state has some real issues, and they are making irrational decisions.

• Link
• Report this comment

The only viable reason I see not to go into school was brought up by Derwood. That reason was if a teacher was to have an accident, ex. slip on the floor, which resulted in injury, it could be argued that the claim could be potentially declined.

• Link
• Report this comment

Anybody know if there’s a way to recoup some of the lost salary at tax time?

• Link
• Report this comment

7 more days just blows my mind! And like someone else said by January we won’t even have 7 days left of “workdays” to use so the students will have to have their days cut. I am losing $268 a day before taxes plus an additional $10 more out every month for TRS contributions since that went from 5% to 5.25%, plus health insurance is going up AGAIN! This is just awful!
Ofcourse my school system still has us doing all this stupid training crap during preplanning….God forbid if they cut that. I never get anything out of it anyhow. I already do everything they want us to “learn to do” during this training….such a waste!

• Link
• Report this comment

Since many teachers are unhappy in Dekalb, I suggest that you LEAVE as I did 3 years ago. Stop complaining about Crawford Lewis and his croonies. It is obvious you are stuck. Get out or SHUT UP!!!!!!

• Link
• Report this comment

Joe Wilson is right, we ax 2 much from are public skools:

“Save money by cutting all the standardized tests, especially the CRCT that goes well beyond that required by other states. The time taken by these test cuts from instructional time and learning by students.”

On a national level, GA is a joke. I would expect a 28 veteran of DeKalb County Schools to want to increase CRCT standards and keep increasing standards until GA increases its rank nationally.

• Link
• Report this comment

After completing my first year as a high school administrator, I have to point out that many school systems in Georgia do not pay their building level administrators nearly as well as others. I made barely $2000 more to be an administrator than I did as a teacher. Sadly though, I spent an average of 60-80 hrs a week at the school all year long, and while I’m good at my job, it is never ending and there is no such thing as overtime pay in this profession for teachers or the building level administrators. I am a hard worker, used to working two jobs to make ends meet and I have never, ever worked this hard in my entire life! Like many of our overworked, underappreciated, often maligned teachers, I too am a single parent and these cuts hurt! I’ve always been a team player, supportive of the system and state. Right now though I’m appalled at the fact that teachers are getting this news right before the beginning of the school year. We all know it’s a tough economy. However, why is it that fire, police, EMS, and teachers continually get pillaged time and time again when the local, state, and federal governments continue to spend, spend, spend on ridiculous programs we can’t afford! As for the comments that teachers, etc should do their part like everyone else, they have been for decades! Quit bashing the very people who are raising your children for you! You give them cell phones and car keys and turn them loose. We feed them, transport them, educate them, teach them morals when they come in the door without them, we teach them how to dress, we teach them about personal responsibility and accountability, we provide them with supplies when you won’t, we spend our own money to help those who are without find a way to pay to take the SAT, we show them how to apply for college, we try to help them find hope when no one cares, and we use every tool we can to hold these kids together to get them to graduate when for many of them there is no one else!. Great for the elite who can afford to have someone else care for their kids or those who have the ability to homeschool. For the vast majority though, we are the only hope some students have of making it. Sure, there are some mediocre teachers, however by and large most people are in this profession because they love helping kids. Too bad the powers that be do not share this same love. As for some of the bitterness many people have towards public school, keep your kids at home and teach them 8 hrs a day! I can’t wait to see how much they raise my health insurance costs, how much the federal government’s new programs will tax me, and what new requirement will be put in place to continue to help the rich get richer and the poor get poorer. So this is how we lead the nation in improving student achievement. I hope those in power start taking a hard look at all these vouchers dollars being sent to private schools and all these cuts being made to the private schools and finally realize you either support public education or you don’t. At least say what you really mean. For the sake of my own kids, perhaps it’s time I quit killing myself for someone else’s lack of priorities and reevaluate my own.

• Link
• Report this comment

ScienceTeacher671, DuBose Porter recognized the problem and offered up and fought for solutions that the Republican leadership killed in committee. Please visit http://porterforgeorgia.blogspot.com/ to read more.

• Link
• Report this comment

flipper

July 28th, 2009
10:29 am
“Why not just cut the school year by two weeks and then cut out all the ridiculous indoctrination and fluff that takes up so much of the school day to make up for the first week and actually teach until the last day of school rather than having a week of parties and field days and just general chaos during the last week of school. Kids get more summer (my kids learn as much in one summer as they learn in a school year) – schools get more efficient. Teachers have a long enough summer to work on advanced degrees or get a summer job which would more than make up for two weeks of lost pay. Everyone wins.”

Hey Flipper-Teachers don’t get “long enough summers to work on advanced degrees or get a summer job”…I don’t know about the other teachers that have posted, but I know that from the time I walked out of the door in May to the time I walked back in the door to help move two schools and preparing/teaching camps was five weeks. Not exactly enough time to work on that advanced degree or to work a “summer” job. Mind you, that five weeks was unpaid…my salary, just like every other public school teacher in in this state, is divided into 12 checks that I receive at the end of each month. I’m back at school this year at school three weeks before classroom teachers, and work more hours than they do.

Who wants to go fishing in Perry? How many billions did that cost?

• Link
• Report this comment

Who needs a high school diploma anyway!! Just get your GED and go to college using the HOPE and PELL. Employers want college grads right? Why waste your time with high school diplomas. It is that simple in GA.
No one needs a high school diploma in GA just a college degree.

• Link
• Report this comment

Actually I wouldn’t be surprised if the governor’s plan factored in the impending swine flu pandemic that is due to come this fall/winter to lower the school population across the state, and then he can balance the budget on the number of students who didn’t survive.

The other truly sad thing is that no one in GA, except for educators, seems to really care. If we where up North, you would have read editorials from the press, had marches on the state capital, had parent groups and business groups upset. GA seems to take it all in stride, and not really care. I saw more coverage of the upcoming Florida/Georgia football game, including the time of the game, how water maybe an issue, etc. than I have heard about education.

God how pathetic.

• Link
• Report this comment

Ironic that a week ago the headlines were about a graduation crisis in GA and the following week we are furloughing teachers. If we have such an education problem in GA why would be doing anything that has an adverse affect on the education system?

• Link
• Report this comment

Teachers do not wok on a furlough day! It’s time everyone is held accountable for this mess. If parents see a room that is not ready, maybe that will make them think about the jokes they elect in office from the governor to the school board.

• Link
• Report this comment

[...] UPDATE: Was the State Board right to approve furloughs? | Get Schooled By Laura Diamond this gives you the number of teachers you would need to lay off – have the teachers all draw straws (yes that crude) and the shortest straw(s) get laid off. Link; Report this comment. Way Down South. July 28th, 2009 10:24 am … Get Schooled – http://blogs.ajc.com/get-schooled-blog/ [...]

• Link
• Report this comment

Derwood that website would be Open.Georgia.gov, lists all State employees’ salaries to include teachers. Have to know person’s name. Very informative site.

• Link
• Report this comment

Teachers are bitching about what amounts to less than a 2% pay cut. WOW now I really feel bad for them…… try taking the pay cut I had to take to keep my business running and then you can talk to me about your problems.

• Link
• Report this comment

teacher no more-
Sounds exactly what I will be for next Monday….long BS meeting with explanations of the MORE duties and paperwork we will have to do this year…documentation, documentation, blah, blah
I will not turn in my resignation though…I have student loans, 2 kids, new house mortgage and just got a car loan.

• Link
• Report this comment

Teachers do a great job. The good ones work incredibly long hours. They are very important to this state. However, there are many other state employees who also do great jobs, work long hours and are very important–including DFCS caseworkers, state troopers, GBI agents, state prosecutors, health inspectors, and others. They have all been furloughed many more days than teachers–12 to 18 days in some cases–and they face the same or greater furloughs than teachers. None of them have received either a cost of living raise or their step increase in two years. Yet, you don’t hear any of them complaining about their plight. Compare yourself to many of the parents of the children you teach and be thankful that you (1) at least have a job and (2) haven’t had your income reduced by 50 or even 75 percent like many of them who have to work the same hours they always have at much less money than in the past. Be a part of the solution and not the problem.

• Link
• Report this comment

DeKalb Conservative talks using test scores, but test results can be dubious as in Texas where some claimed test was written to be easier each year. Scores went up artificially and George Bush claimed as governor that he had raised them. Test data is not what it always what it seems. It is one measure of a student’s academic learning, but not the only one. Georgia spends much money (I wish I knew the exact amount), but learning can be measure by a national test also. National tests are much cheaper and not as costly as Georgia CRCT.

Many school systems do have teachers with instructional titles and supervisory roles, but do not pay them as administrators like Davis says. They have long work hours and administrative functions, but are not paid commiserative with their duties.

• Link
• Report this comment

Nikole are you really a teacher, as your posts often forget the rule on prepositions- not at the end of a sentence? It is sad that furloughs are taking place and districts are doing things differently to meet the requirement.
I do believe that Sonny knew he could get the State DOE to go along with furlough business because teacher contracts do state that as “long as there are funds” and how the heck do you end a fiscal year balanced, and three weeks into a new fiscal year you are $900 MILLION short. Talk about planning- it was to be done regardless of what teachers or superintendents thought. Perdue only makes these “budget changes” after school systems have set budgets, allocated resources, and set the millage rate. So your local superintendent and local board gets the blame for Sonny’s mess. This is the 2ND time Sonny has done this and because he is not running again, it doesn’t affect him nor his fishing buddies.

The last thing that needs to be done is a fight teachers vs.everyone else. The furlough says teachers, but some districts are furloughing EVERYONE. Perhaps the media should have stated “all schools systems will receive cut to personnel pay”; but then again media cannot tell the truth as the truth doesn’t get the emotion necessary to cause hate to spew.

The EXTRA retirement in DCSS is a great opportunity to which people can participate after being employed over 3 years. Since this was a flexible expense it was at the discretion of the board and the superintendent to make changes as necessary. It was to be a perk and incentive for people to want to work for DCSS, and obviously it is not working from the look of this blog.
I don’t care what an administrator tells an employee- YOU DO NOT show for work on a furlough day. NOT even the custodians. Stick together on this one, and if necessary file a Department of Labor complaint.

• Link
• Report this comment

John, you are correct – this is affecting ALL state employees. That’s why we ought to all be advocating for the general assembly to get back in session and pass tobacco taxes and the point of sale tax collection to help balance the budget, and to get rid of the sales tax holiday.

And just for those who think teachers are being selfish by suggesting that the sales tax holiday be revoked — how many school supplies would you need to buy to even save $20? Think about it.

• Link
• Report this comment

say what? I think there is a larger point to be made than the fact that the retirement that was cut was an extra perk. The extra that should be focused on is one hundred million dollars. From my understanding, that’s not what DeKalb pays in administrative salary, that’s what they pay EXTRA in comparison to Fulton.

I’m just wondering how Nikole and other DeKalb County teachers feel, that the largest organization for teachers seemed more than willing to go after retirement, than they apparently did one hundred million dollars in deadweight administrative salaries?

• Link
• Report this comment

Thanks Marie!

• Link
• Report this comment

I am not here to write my dissertation, I am just sharing my frustrations. Sorry if my posts are not edited to your satisfaction.

• Link
• Report this comment

Why has no one in our county or state goverment mentioned shortening the school year?

• Link
• Report this comment

Teachers, it is time to unionize! We need a real say in education. PAGE is not strong enough. This would not be happening in a unionized state. The benefits, salaries, conditions and care of students are much better in a unionized state. If the state and districts can push us around, they will.

• Link
• Report this comment

Saying PAGE is not a strong enough when it comes to standing up for teachers is like saying a nickel is not enough money to purchase a Ferrari. Yet teachers have made PAGE the largest teacher organization in the state. That’s the kind of thinking that’ll lead you into a bar fight with Truman Capote, PeeWee Herman and Mini-Me at your side, then wondering why you got your @ss kicked.

At some point teachers are going to have to decide how much of this is happening to them, and how much of this is teachers allowing it to happen to them.

• Link
• Report this comment

As I have said before and I will say again. Johnny Brown cleaned house in DCSS and Crawford Lewis has brought them all back, plus more. Why do you think that they are moving the people from Building A and B to Mountain Industrial in January? There is no more room in the “BIG HOUSES”. Where is the money coming from to do this? Why does it have to be done now, when money is so tight? Also, why did Lewis have to create new positions under him to the tune of over $152,000? I would also like to know how they are getting out of paying the money that should be going into our retirement that would have gone into Social Security? Also, is it happening to everyone in the county?

• Link
• Report this comment

Teachers should rejoice about these furlough days. It seems pretty clear that these furlough days are going to adversely affect students’ learning, i.e. whatever is measured by the standardized tests. So, even before we start our first day of the school year, we know the test results won’t be good and we know why. So, maybe teachers can just focus on enjoy teaching what they like without having to worry about preparing students for the tests – if they fail, just simply point to those furlough days we lost. It’s true 10 days of pay cuts is a major blow, but let’s think about the positive side.

• Link
• Report this comment

Announced today, Richmond County teachers will have one furlough day added to the four implemented already BEFORE Sonny’s latest dictum. BUT, teachers will work all four furlough days except the recent one. All teachers will be able to get off 15 minutes early each day of the school year (yeah, right), in order to make up for the furlough days worked.

• Link
• Report this comment

Teachers do need to remember that many other state employees have been taking furloughs for about a year, and some of these jobs involve the safety and risk to children’s lives. I find it only fair that teachers now can join the club of working with GA’s budget shortfalls.

• Link
• Report this comment

I agree that there are positions that need to be cut: example (Middle School Graduation Coaches). These people do nothing and our state’s gradutation rate is still at the bottom of the list. Teachers pay out so much to teach children, only to be told at the last minute that they will loss three days of pay. I provide school supplies and lunch money to students, when their parents fail to do so. I went to work today, even though I was not paid. We sacrifice so much. Thanks a lot Sonny Perdue for showing teachers how important we are.

• Link
• Report this comment

quoting Tim

July 28th, 2009
7:03 pm
“Teachers do need to remember that many other state employees have been taking furloughs for about a year, and some of these jobs involve the safety and risk to children’s lives. I find it only fair that teachers now can join the club of working with GA’s budget shortfalls.”

You are not a state employee, are you?

• Link
• Report this comment

I don’t see any of these legislative clown willing to be furloughed…It’s well past time to furlough them all.

• Link
• Report this comment

We need to cancel standardized tests for the next two years and see how much money that will save. How much time it will allow for real education and how many jobs focused on testing can be eliminated. Save paper, go green. Save trees, reduce the amount of number 2 pencils drastically.
Next, move to the 4 day week now. Save a lot of energy costs each week. Don’t wait till the state and county can’t pay the bills.
The ecuse has been we can’t change the planned schedule at this late date, but they can change the schedule whenever they want to change it.

• Link
• Report this comment

Cut staff development. Cut the requirements to have staff development, cut the days to do S.d., Cut the people in charge of S.D. Cut the speaker money. For the next two years this could save a lot of money. The State makes the rules to require those days. They can obviously change anything any time they wish. So, change the requirement and save some money.

• Link
• Report this comment

Comparing teachers to other critical service professions isn’t really fair. The folks teachers serve are FORCED to be in school until the age of 16. Accordingly, teachers have to deal on a daily basis with clients who frequently do anything to disrupt the learning environment because they do not want to be there in the first place. Is the citizenry required to set fires on a daily basis to activate firefighters? Is it required that everyone have a lawyer and utilize their services even if we don’t want to do so? Am I required to visit my physician on a basis that is more regular than I care to? May I pace myself in the classroom to meet my workload like many of the government office (e.g., tag, permit, etc.) workers do without having someone threaten to non-renew me? Do any of the aforementioned non-teachers frequently spend personal money to purchase items needed to fulfill the duties of their jobs? Hmmm…

I challenge ANY non-teacher to walk a year in a teacher’s shoes before making any claim to understanding the frustration teachers are feeling right now. Even the best and most dedicated teachers must be honest with themselves and admit the figurative slap in the face felt a little harder this time.

I wish the best in the coming school year for my education brethren. Please remember that this blog is nothing more than a self-select sampling of the general population. Such a sample always tends toward the negative in response. Keep up the good work…this too (and the morons who don’t know how to balance a budget without cutting critical areas) shall pass.

• Link
• Report this comment

With the economy the way it is, are they going to take away the National Board teacher subsidies or the cost of living raises for teachers who have retired?

• Link
• Report this comment

My Facebook posts:
GEORGIA TEACHERS–more than 3 furlough days now. Us with our Nat. Board Certif. are probably not going to get a dime for this–the state had promised us an additional 10% of our pay and then said for this year 10% of a 1st yr teach pay–I think most NCBTs are taking a $600/MONTH hit. That + the furlough days are dropping my salary by about $10K. This hurts ALL of us! Advanced degrees–next? What R U going to do?!!!
AND
GEORGIA TEACHERS–don’t go to work on Tuesday if you are furloughed!!! I have from a reliable source, the state is going to get some kind of a count of the teachers who will work for free on furlough days and they will use this to see if they can give us 3 more days off in Jan.—they think they can get us to do the same work with much less pay. Do not go in and act like it is “for the children” you’ll screw us all!

And I have had many comments & lunch at the pizza place next to Kayson’s exit 14 off 575. Just questions written into a memo.
WE DESERVE ANSWERS about where our $ has gone–can you say misappropriation of funds?

• Link
• Report this comment

Please use your furlough days to contact your elected representatives, including the governor and lieutenant governor and those currently in the General Assembly contemplating a run for governor. Urge them to call a special session and redo the budget.

Eliminating the sales tax holiday will eliminate $10-13 million from the deficit. Raising cigarette taxes by $1 per pack could add another $400 million. Enacting Sen. Dubose Porter’s suggestion on collecting sales taxes more efficiently could raise $1 billion, eliminating the current budget shortfall and then some, without adding any additional taxes at all.

THERE IS NO NEED TO FURLOUGH ANYONE, if our General Assembly would stop hiding behind a lame duck governor and do the right thing. If they refuse to do so, we should refuse to vote for any of them.

• Link
• Report this comment

Motivate me, pay me. I agree…get rid of the graduation coaches, math coaches, literacy coaches, assistant prinicipals per grade, CRCT Test (a joke-you only have to pass 1/2 the test to make a passing score) cut the instruction time, teach mastery of the basics (not the test) cut out experimental programs (stick to tried and true methods) We can read, write, count and reason and guess what? We didn’t come near a computer until college. And please, oh please use the ITBS as the real measure of whether Georgia students are on level. We know for a fact that you can be on the second grade level in reading and pass the eighth grade CRCT test. Parents need to know this! Maybe they wouldn’t be so proud when their children score level 2 or 3 and quit insisting that they are gifted. No sweetie, your little darling is just low normal. I am so glad that I was educated in another state. I love Georgia, but I don’t love the basic education system. It is truly A JOKE.

• Link
• Report this comment

Teachers, do not work for free!

• Link
• Report this comment

Have they or have they not taken a stand on advising teachers how to handle the pressures of being asked to report or furlough days? Have they or have they not, put the appropriate pressure on school officials as to whether or not any teacher who does report, and is injured will be covered by workman’s compensation?

• Link
• Report this comment

So what are you going to say to a teacher who falls off a table trying to put up a precious poster so the room will look nice, only to be told sorry your permanent disability won’t be covered by workman’s comp since you came on a furloughed day?

• Link
• Report this comment

Why are teachers the only employees expected to work on furlough days? I doubt “Go Fish” workers would show up if you didn’t pay them.

• Link
• Report this comment

“putting up posters” – You have NO IDEA what it is teachers do. Teachers have more paperwork every year. Worthless do nothing paperwork but still required paperwork.

• Link
• Report this comment

What will I be doing my furlough days??? Working my part time job so I can at least make some money to cover for what I will be losing…

• Link
• Report this comment

I can’t work on a furlough day. It’s too difficult to walk around and be productive while I am holding my ankles.

• Link
• Report this comment

All I know is that MACE wrote to Governor Perdue (www.theteachersadvocate.com) proposing that he eliminate 25% to 35% of all administrators in Georgia. Did I hear GAE or PAGE making similar proposals? Nope. Why? Their membership ranks are full of administrators. That’s why you did not hear a peep from GAE and PAGE about the cheating scandals. Again, MACE has been the lone wolf in the wilderness howling, writing, and picketing about the systematic cheating. All I know is that when it comes to teacher empowerment, MACE is the only organization/union/association (or whatever you want to call MACE, PAGE, or GAE) which stands boldly and unapologetically for Georgia teachers.

Note: My fellow DeKalb citizens, let’s erase the DeKalb Board of Election. The board is responsible for that clown of a superintendent named Crawford Lewis. The DeKalb County Board of Education is worse than the Clayton County Board of Education. A million dollars more spent on DeKalb Central Office Staff than the Fulton County Board of Education’s Central Office Staff? Please explain this. The DeKalb Office of Internal Resolutions (under the “illustrious” leadership of State Senator Ronald Ramsey) has a staff of seven or more people and they cannot follow the Georgia grievance law? Can someone please read the law to this group? Seven or more staff members and they cannot get this one law (O.C.G.A. 20-2-989.5 et seq.) correctly? Talking about pitiful…

• Link
• Report this comment

May I suggest a change of careers for all those who feel they are not being “respected”, “appreciated”, “exalted” for the truly wonderful job they are doing by educating the public throngs. I mean just look at the standardized test scores for GA and you should realize how valuable these bloggers really are.

• Link
• Report this comment

Don’t worry………..I know these GA Legislators acted stupidly and I am going to use this as a teaching moment. The fact is that you have to pay to play…..we need more pay for teachers and less workdays. Those are the facts. Thank you for your time, PrezBO!!

• Link
• Report this comment

The governor has no power to eliminate administrators at the county level. Just as he said when he “ordered” the furloughs, he had no legal authority to do so since the teachers hold contracts with the individual districts. MACE may scream and shout and picket, but until they develop a working relationship with the people in power, they will just look like fools. Besides, they’re the ones who were behind Clayton County losing its accreditation. They put students in jeopardy. This situation sucks, but screaming and shouting without providing working solutions will not help anything.

• Link
• Report this comment

If you look at the Clayton County accreditation mess objectively, it’s hard to find any innocent party, and that includes the politicians, the teacher organizations and SACS.

But for the record, during the entire period that brought about the accreditation mess the majority of school board members in Clayton were members of GAE, and that’s including the board chairman.

Of course the AJC never informed their readers of that fact, and that’s why you can add them to the list of acronyms that were agenda driven during the entire episode.

• Link
• Report this comment

Almost always, the association a teacher joins has little to do with anything.

PAGE has a stronghold locally mainly because it has for years. Not to mention that the dues are cheaper. GAE has a grip on other counties. It usually just depends on custom.

There is very little difference between the two groups.

• Link
• Report this comment

Gwinnett County fourth grade students have to take and pass five CRCT tests and now a new Math Reasoning Test to be promoted to fifth grade. Save millions by withdrawing these tests for a year.

• Link
• Report this comment

oh, the governor has no power, eh? i thought that about 80% of the adminstrators’ salaries come fron state funding. hmm, mr. “d” (and all of your other dozens of daily monikers, most notably is the fake name “jim d”), you are a jackanapes just like your “lisa b.” moniker. if you were so assured of your opinions, why will you not — even one time — use your real name. “you scared…you scared…you scared to shoot dat ball.” BABY SAY, “GUN GUN, YOU SCARED.”

• Link
• Report this comment

I periodically read this blog. It is very interesting!!! I keep my eyes on it.

• Link
• Report this comment

In Richmond County, Augusta , GA. Teachers are being furloughed for 5 days but are still required to come to work on those furlough days. Is this legal? If the flexibility is in place to change the amont of time teachers must work on their contracts, why are Rcboe teachers being asked to work on those days; instead being asked to take 15 minutes off each of their days throughout the year? Teachers already work over 1 to 2 hours for free anyway… Furlough is a furlough, for those days of furlough; teachers should not be required to work, especially since this flexibility has been granted. What is fair is fair. How in the world will you monitor taking an extra 15 minutes off each day? Most districts are taking the 3-day furloughs; Rcboe teachers are taking 5; who is standing up for the employees and subsequently the students in this district? Dishearten teachers will definitely impact student performance.

• Link
• Report this comment

I have no intention of getting into a back and forth argument with anyone, but I will assure clayton resident that I use one, and only one “moniker” in these forums. My reasons for the remaining anonymous are my own.

Back onto the real topic, should the state board approved the furloughs? I think there was too much political pressure not to, but why was there such pressure? There are so many line items in the budget that should be looked at to examine just how necessary is that spending for the state of Georgia. I am very disturbed that Go Fish Georgia has yet to have any funding cut, although since the project will be centered in Houston County where the governor will be in 18 months, I am not surprised. Unfortunately, in the field of public education, the only power that can be had by educators is based upon the relationships that they develop with the people in power. If educators come screaming and yelling and picketing without offering solutions, there will be no progress. As an educator, yes, I am grateful to have a job, but as a person, I would like the ability to pay my obligations without feeling stressed and figuring out which utility or insurance to not have, and if it comes to extensive furloughs as allowed by the state board of education, it may come down to that. Unfortunately, due to some circumstances in my life beyond my control, I had to use most of my savings a few years ago, and due to the volatile nature of the current economy, I haven’t been able to build them back up like I would like. As far as doing my job, I don’t know how Kathy Cox, a former teacher herself, could allow 10 furlough days to be allowed. She should know the necessity of teachers to properly plan for instruction. I can stand in front of my class and lecture for 90 minutes at a time. That doesn’t take much planning, but it doesn’t allow for much learning to occur either, and when it comes time for me to administer the End of Course Test, the scores will reflect it. The unfortunate thing with the way the education system is set up is that the state department of education takes a lot of mandates from the General Assembly and has to figure out how to implement them. End of Course testing is one example. Does the General Assembly honestly not trust me enough to write my own final exam? I have said this in another “blog,” but look at other professions, doctors are “managed” (and I use the term managed loosely) by the AMA , which is comprised of Doctors, lawyers by the ABA (comprised of Lawyers). As an educator, I apparently work at the whim of a veterinarian. Yes, I know he was elected largely by the votes of educators, but when he went back on his promises, he became no better than the man he replaced.

I remember the “Sonny did” ads of the reelection campaign of 2006, where the narrator said Sonny poured billions into education…. where is that money? Systems have been dealing with cuts to state QBE funding since 2003. The system cannot be fixed by money alone, but I know the money would go a long way to bettering the lives of millions of children in Georgia. Let’s let our teachers do their jobs and educate the children of this state.

• Link
• Report this comment

Enter your comments here

• Link
• Report this comment

[...] I look through comments on yesterday’s post about furloughs, many teachers from private schools, charter schools and even home school parents wrote to say how [...]

• Link
• Report this comment

I encourage teachers not to do any school related work on furlough days. As another poster suggested if it doesn’t get done, so what? Life will go on. Teachers need to stop giving up so much unpaid time to take care of school related business. Take time to renew yourself and you will be a much better teacher. Distractions from school will help you get thru this mess. Most likely teachers will receive news of at least three more furlough days the second half of the school year. These days will take away any planning days at the end of the school year. Things were already bad, but expect very low morale amongst teachers. Don’t get sucked in my administrators encouraging everyone to pull together and take on extra responsibilities to make it thru tough times. They expect teachers to give, give and give, but they continue to take, take, take.

• Link
• Report this comment

I will not be working on furlough days. It is a matter of pride and self-respect. I grew up in a state with a very powerful teacher’s union, of which my parents were both members. Their benefits, salary, and classroom conditions are still better in a state with much more serious financial problems. They also produce better results in graduation and testing statistics.

If we can’t use this moment to unionize, then we never will. Some of you, who’ve been raised Republican, probably do find unions “sketchy”- but what is the alternative? Getting walked all over by the state? Teaching is a thankless enough professional already. Anyone who teaches understands this, and anyone who doesn’t never will.

Take this time to talk to your colleagues. Let’s start a grassroots network that demands a union. PAGE is not the answer. They’ve lobbied for years against creating a union- because they serve a lot of administrators. I think our best bet is to demand that GAE drop admins. as members and start fighting harder to become a real teachers’ union. It might be more feasible if they lower their member dues to PAGE rates as well.

• Link
• Report this comment

Art teacher-
Like I said on the other blog, I am all for joining a union but I really don’t know how we will get this all started. I agree that the GAE would have to drop all admins and do you think that would really happen? I used to live up North and there was a very strong teacher union. I was never in it because there was such a surplus of teachers and jobs were hard to come by hence the reason I loved to Georgia. Now I am sick to my stomach over what is going on but don’t know what to do.

• Link
• Report this comment

I just wrote to GAE. These are the suggestions I offered them:

1. That they lower their membership dues to the rates of PAGE. Especially in the light of the paycuts and furloughs.
2. They should drop all administrators as members. No teachers’ union should allow admins. as members. It is a conflict of interest.
3. They should publicize the fact that they want to unionize and have been lobbying to unionize for years. They should let teachers know that PAGE does not want a teachers’ union and continues to fight against this goal. If teachers had the facts, and they knew that PAGE was really working more for the interest of administrators and school boards teachers, then (hopefully) they would drop PAGE and run to GAE in droves.

If you would like to send these suggestions to GAE as well, I would appreciate it. There is a contact page on their website, and I just sent them a letter. The more voices we have the stronger we are. As it stands, with all the teachers divided between PAGE, GAE, and MACE- it is a shambles.

• Link
• Report this comment

Before I became a teacher, I worked for many years as a business consultant. I learned in those years that the only way to deal with Republicans is to hit their wallet: nothing else matters to them. They don’t understand any sort of concept like “compassion” or “empathy,” and they think we are stupid when we talk about things like “the greater good.” When you deal with a Republican, you are dealing with a moral and social vacuum.

For those who don’t know where to start, think about this: what would happen if 60% of the teachers in the state did not show up for the first day of school and then repeated this action once every two weeks for the remainder of the semester? In all honesty, the only way to stop the Republicans is to make them spend more money on the furloughs than they would otherwise have had to. All Republicans care about is money, so we need to make sure their actions cost them dollars and cents—and a lot of dollars and cents.

Some of you might cringe at doing such a thing because, of course, we do not want to leave our students in a bind. Our hearts go out to our poor students, and we don’t want them to suffer. However, you need to understand that in terms of education in Georgia it is us versus them now. If we do not stop them now, what they are doing today is only the beginning. Although it would hurt our consciences to deprive our students of two days per month, remember that the Republicans count on such feelings to keep us in our place.

Here’s how to deal with Republicans: cost them money. Nothing else matters to them, and nothing else will get their attention so much as a few bucks. Sad, yes, but unfortunately all too true.

• Link
• Report this comment

The bottom line is they are requiring teachers to work for free because all they can’t do during the planning days have to be done anyway. Teachers will have to do these things while students are in the classroom, after school at the school site, AND at home.

Now, teachers are going to have to stop being chumps and learn to leave work when the clock says it’s time to go. They are going to have to realize they are not paid overtime and stop working at home. They are going to have to stop going to work early to many things. These are things that teachers do, and they need to stop.

Other jobs, you see people lined up at the end of the work day waiting to hit the clock. They have their purse and lunch bag and they leave it all behind until the next day. Critics have no idea how much EXTRA time teachers put in for the benefit of the children they teach, helping with many other things at the school, planning activities, dealing with sports, and the list goes on. No respect, no gratitude…people have no idea. Stop it teachers. At the official close of the day, get your purse and lunch bag and go home because one thing for sure, no one cares. They expect miricle worker results and have not a clue how it all comes together.

Davis, you said it well and I’m sure many others did too but I’ve not read them all.

One more thing…to the person who said tax smokers, I think that is so unfair and I know when something is unfair. There are so many things that can perhaps be taxed so why put it all on the backs of one segment. Why not add $1 tax on cell phones? They are a menace in schools, they cause many accidents, and it would be a tax on a much broader segment in our society. Even free lunch and no supplies students have cell phones. Go figure. At least make a suggestion that would be more broadly fair.

• Link
• Report this comment

teacher F-

which other blog? (this post has been deleted once already)

• Link
• Report this comment

GA Educator, supposedly Dubose Porter has a suggestion that would eliminate the shortfall without raising any taxes at all, just by making tax collection more efficient. I think I was the one who mentioned the suggestion for cigarette taxes; I read that in a newspaper editorial, but cell phone taxes would be fine with me as well.

We just need to get with the other state employees and demand that the General Assembly get back up to Atlanta and fix this mess they’ve left us with — preferably at their own expense, and not ours!

• Link
• Report this comment

Remember that we vote with our dollars just like we do at the polls. If we keep joining PAGE (I’m not sure about MACE because I don’t know anything about them) then we are voting against a teachers’ union. I could be wrong, but I am pretty sure they have a much larger teacher membership than GAE. If you all will write in to GAE or call and make these demands, then maybe we can start the boat rocking.

1. Lower rates to PAGE levels.
2. Cut administrators as members.
3. Publicize the face that they want to unionize, while PAGE does not.

And spread the word to your colleagues. We need a union! I will be putting facebook to work today!

• Link
• Report this comment

Oh and dear Kathy Cox,

No, I will not be working on furlough days. I resent the inference that I will be working without compensation because I care about my students. I do care about my students, but I also have some pride. I also believe that my time is worth something, even if you and Sonny do not.

If you would like to come to my classroom to clean, plan, grade, and organize on those furlough days, then you are more than welcome. Make sure to turn the lights off when you leave.

• Link
• Report this comment

I like Bartow County’s approach.

• Link
• Report this comment

I totally empathize with the plight of the classroom teacher, as I think the average person has no clue as to their plight.

But you have PAGE with a reputed 70,000 members and GAE with a reputed 40,000. So teachers in this state, tens of thousands of them, have made a deliberate choice to let organizations that are dominated by administrative interests speak for them.

And then they complain that they are getting stepped on. Look in the mirror. Maybe one percent of the posters have talked about this, all the while the rest are complaining. And that’s what Kathy Cox and the like expect you to do.

Whine and comply.

Because you’ve shown them, time and time again, that that’s what you’ll do. You join organization that will enable you to whine; then comply.

Whine and comply.

Look in the mirror.

• Link
• Report this comment

I’m with the Art teacher… I will not work on a furlough day. I already work for free on the days that I’m actually getting paid (coming in early/leaving late). We can care for the students without allowing others to walk on us. Are other state employees expected to go in and work on a furlough day? I think not. Is anyone expected to go to work for free (furlough or not)? Of course if a teacher does not go to work for “the students” we are considered less of a teacher. Teaching is both a calling and a job. No pay = stay home.

• Link
• Report this comment

Art Teacher (d, jim d, catlady, Science Teacher 671 — you’re all the same person): I laugh when I see you trying to “unionize” on a blog. LOL. Your are funny. You are afraid to even use your real name on a blog, and yet you are now the Jimmy Hoffa of Teacher Unionism! LOL. Face it: You’re a blogaholic, and that is it. Watch out for that blogging in class — during instruction time. “Know what I mean?” — as ole Vern would say. Don’t say that I didn’t warn you. We DeKalb County citizens don’t pay taxes for you to blog from your classroom, especially against your own bosses, but you do kind of get into that, don’t you? This gives you cheap thrills, eh?

• Link
• Report this comment

This has got to be the paper tiger comment of the year:

Tim Callahan, spokesman for the Professional Association of Georgia Educators (PAGE), said Tuesday his group is continuing to research whether school systems can change teachers’ contracts and impose furloughs, relying on a loophole that says most contracts are “contingent upon state funding.”

“Right now additional days beyond the three are hypothetical, so I can’t comment on what we would do later in the year if more are called for,” Callahan said.

Like PAGE would actually DO something LOL

But that’s who teachers have chosen to cast their lot with.

• Link
• Report this comment

Gov’t Tchr is correct. We need information, and we need it now. My legislator told me that there was no pork or special projects for any legislator in the FY 2010 budget. The professional organizations should be checking this claim out immediately. If they could give us a list of questionable budget items, we can then individually forcefully take up the matter with our local legislators.

A brief glance at the state budget for FY 2010 shows that the budget for the state senate has increased approximately 30% from FY 2006-FY 2010. The budget for the house of representatives and joint office for the legislature have each incresed approximately 20% from FY 2006-FY 2010. NONE OF THESE THREE LINES WAS CUT IN THE FY 2010 BUDGET!!! (Source: Governor’s Report of the State Budget, 2010.

I am sure there are other potential irregularities to be found with a careful study of the state budget. Who can do this for us?

And, absolutely, all state employees need to be together on this. I am distressed at the sniping and finger pointing going on between teachers and other state employees. This is not a time to argue about who has it better or who has it worse.

Instead, contact your senator and representative NOW. They are all up for re-election in 15 months.

• Link
• Report this comment

Conni,
(1) We’re not all the same person, and I have no idea who d, jim d, or catlady are in real life.
(2) I have not suggested or advocated a teachers’ union on this or any other blog.
(3) Yeah, I like to blog on my own time, but not in class. Fortunately, school hasn’t started yet.
(4) I don’t live in or near Dekalb County, thank goodness.
Want to try again?
ST671

• Link
• Report this comment

Question: Can you name a lesser paid occupation than teaching requiring malpracticie insurance?
Answer: None

• Link
• Report this comment

tc,

What’s more pathetic. That’s the teacher organizations haven’t taken a vocal stand, or that teachers by the tens of thousands have joined them and given them their hard earned money only to time and time again have them take a muted stand, in order to appease administrative members, such as the president of GAE who is a Clayton County administrator?

As much as we can empathize with how teaching conditions have deteriorated in Georgia, at some point you have to look at choices teachers make to see how they have participated in their own demise.

• Link
• Report this comment

EVERYONE should cancel your union membership IMMEDIATELY. Then take them all and study rules and benefits, then come here for recommendations with reason, and seek to affiliate yourselves with the one(s) best representative of the interest of teachers.

• Link
• Report this comment

Art teacher-
The original one on ajc- Should Teachers Be Furloughed? This one began after the state board meeting….seemed like most had started blogging on this one then

• Link
• Report this comment

Look at PAGE, GAE, and MACE and there’s one thing that immediately jumps out. MACE is the only group that limits it’s membership to teachers. Job #1 is advocating for teachers, and unlike PAGE and GAE that job isn’t diluted by having protect the administrative bureaucracy. Even if you have been turned off to MACE by the way the media, and especially the AJC portrays them, that doesn’t change the irrefutable facts about GAE and PAGE.

As much as MACE is criticized in some quarters, if MACE goes away tomorrow, PAGE and GAE are still left with the almost impossible task of fighting for teachers while balancing the need to protect the administrative bureaucracy. The sad thing is, you read the responses on this blog, and it doesn’t appear that many teachers have truly incorporated that dynamic into their thinking.

But that dynamic is exactly why MACE is the only one with the courage to suggest the one thing that would balance the books and not hurt students, which is making significant cuts in administration.

Do you think the head of GAE, who is a Clayton County administrator, can truly advocate for his teachers that way, by suggesting much needed cuts, but cuts that would affect his membership and quite possibly, even his friends and peers?

Have GAE teachers thought about this? There are thousands of them; you’d think at least one could come on this blog and explain how they think they are being advocated for by a president who is an administrator.

One weakness of MACE is that they simply don’t have the numbers of GAE and PAGE. They don’t have the money to lobby the legislature like GAE does. But teachers have to ask themselves, are they happy with the lobbying efforts that have been made with the dues they have paid with their hard earned money?

What good is it for teachers to have a lobbying force if, when a situation like this arises, that force can’t truly lobby in your behalf, because they have to balance your interests with administrative interests, even if it cost you the ability to balance your checkbook?

If teachers have failed themselves, and you can see it by the lack of discussion on this blog, it’s that they really haven’t taken a studious look at how the different organizations operate, what their philosophies are and how those philosophies translate specifically into supporting the classroom teacher.

Unless teachers are truly happy with the way that Sonny Perdue, Kathy Cox, GAE and PAGE are defining their role in education, they may want to take some ownership define the role themselves. One of the first places they may want to look is to see what they are getting in return for their hard earned money in terms of advocacy from the various organizations.

• Link
• Report this comment

Teachers should show up to school at the last possible minute, leave the school as soon as the official school day is over and never work on nights and weekends. Stop doing all extracurricular activities if you are not compensated for your time. Maybe someone will appreciate teachers if we stand up for ourselves.

• Link
• Report this comment

I have never heard of MACE, but I just looked at their website. I did like the fact that I saw the term “candy ass” used on a protest sign, but is this for real? I just don’t know how professional this association seems. It looks a little too punk rock for my colleagues- I can’t see the average Georgia teacher responding to that irreverent style.

What are we to do? Ask GAE to change? Revoke our memberships from all professional associations? I mean, what are they really providing- liability insurance and a magazine subscription. Shouldn’t our member dollars go farther than that. Is the advocacy that these associations provide worthwhile?

• Link
• Report this comment

A few of you made reference to your system having you take the furlough days on days you were already scheduled to be off… how does that work? Those are not figured into your 190 days anyway… how can they just decide that you will work all days you were already scheduled to work and then not pay you on a Thanksgiving break when you were not schedule to work anyway? Please answer… curious as to how they can justify that as being legal.

• Link
• Report this comment

[...] I look through comments on yesterday’s post about furloughs, many teachers from private schools, charter schools and even home school parents wrote to say how [...]

• Link
• Report this comment

I understand everyones frustrations with the furloughs and how we may feel slighted but lets have some perspective. Its not like Sonny Wants to cut our pay for fun. If the money is not there its not there. No other options other than what corporate america does when they lose money, layoffs.
Pick up a newspaper, In case you have not noticed we had a near economic collapse a few months back and are in the middle of the worst recession in 25 years. Countless people have lost their jobs or have had their work/pay reduced. My wife was unemployed for the past 3 months. Yes my paycheck will be smaller but a couple hundred bucks off of a paycheck is a hell of a lot better than no paycheck at all.

As a Teacher I care about doing my job well even if that means that I work 5-10 hours a week extra without pay. I have already spent 5-6 days unpaid this past week getting ready for the year. Yeah “ideologically” it sounds unfair to work for no pay but honestly in the grand scheme of things a few days makes little difference. I am not a laborer I am a teaching proffessional hired on salary to do my job and consider it important to put in the time required. Its not like we are slaving to make our company or sonny perdue rich. We work to help children. I am willing to take a 3 day pay cut so that the new teachers they hired at my school last year can keep their job and so next year I can hopefully keep mine. I know our jobs got a little bit harder (seems like a yearly trend huh) but in this day and age I LOVE that I have a JOB. My hometown near Detroit just hit 17 percent unemployment. That is not a typo or exaggeration. It is why I had to move here. Schools are closing and laying off thousands, yes thousands of teachers. So a little perspective can go a long way in making it through these times. Save some money and appreciate that even though theres less there. At least theres something because who knows how long it will last.

• Link
• Report this comment

It is more than “the money is not there.” Trust me, go to the open records web site and look up the salaries of the higher ups in gov’t and see how the momey is miraculously there for their salaries and travel expenses. I have no problem chipping in but not when its not spread equally. Look at some of the tax breaks given large corporations and then look at how much money they gave our politicians. This isn’t totally a case of the money not coming in, it is fiscal mismanagement. And its OUR money they are mismanaging.
We really aren’t salaried like same say we are. We have daily hours on our contracts so they don’t abuse our generosity and try to force us to work a million extra hours. We are contracted to work 190 days from certan hours (mine is 7:45-3:45).
I work at least 4 evening football games a year (for no compensation) from 5:30 – 11:30 pm. I do this to support my students. They try to tell us we have to work 3 sporting events a year but its not in our contract anywhere (there is a space for it but ours is always blank) but we do it to do our fair share.
Lastly, its really more the principle of the thing. If we take this (changing our contracts after we signed them) then it set a precedent. They will continue to chip away at us and education. This year Perdue cut $500 MILLION dollars from education.

• Link
• Report this comment

Vouchers are not practical. I don’t think private schools want anything to do with them and they probably won’t pay for the total cost of a private school education anyway. I think vouchers are really an attempt to end public education.

• Link
• Report this comment

I like Bartow County’s approach of adding 12minutes to the day….of course, the teachers are still getting paid, so there is no real money savings to the state.

I have just finished working on my classroom…..spent 4 days of varying amounts of time, from 2 hours to 6 hours, but I have done what needed to be done….added up, it is more than the time I will be furloughed for the first two days. Will I be at the school on Monday and Tuesday? Uh, no!

• Link
• Report this comment

Did anyone ever answer the question Elaine posed earlier?

“Metro districts pay teachers much more than the state base. For most veteran teachers, the state’s portion of his/her salary is roughly half (a higher percentage for new teachers, and even lower for seasoned veterans). So, If the state yanks three day’s pay, it’s not really three full days’ pay. The counties are already paying the rest. Systems like Cherokee and Fulton need to be transparent about where their share of the savings from these furloughs will be going. Is it to something more important than paying teachers to prepare for the school year? And why not cut 1 1/2 days instead of all 3?”

Where exactly is that money going? Please don’t tell me these counties might be profiting from this furlough!

• Link
• Report this comment

Spartan fan, I meant.

• Link
• Report this comment

It will be interesting to see how much state tax collections will be down for the next few months as all of these state worker families begin to clamp down on their spending. We are a two teacher family, and I assure you that spending will be a bare minimium in our household. I have already told my wife that we will not spend any of our money on our students this year because we just can’t afford to.

• Link
• Report this comment

GO GREEN!!! Yeah a lot of us spartans down here, which was kind of my point and where my perspective comes from. I graduated 2 years ago and most of the people I knew were were still looking for their first job last year. I remember Grand Ledge had a job opening that they closed after three days. They had over a thousand applicants. Insane. It was pretty deflating to see them throw my resume into a box full of hundreds of others. I try to stay positive so I can keep my sanity I suppose but at the same time I see where other people are coming from. I guess I assumed that next year things go back to normal if the money comes back but at the same time maybe it would send the message that they could get away with whatever they want if we show up on furlough days. Even if I already went in this week and have been working on plans all night, just simply having an empty building will send the message you gotta pay us to have us. If it was any other job I would be saying in a heartbeat screw off. If I don’t get a dime you don’t get my time. Teaching is one of those things though where you are working for something other than “the man” My time is not geared towards someone elses profit. I am not building something for someone else to sell. I expect to do a good job teaching and I know that if im not prepared for the first day I cant do my best. All these things about trying to show the administrators by not putting in an extra second and not putting in your best performance etc are all a detriment. You dont hurt the superintendent you hurt your kids and you hurt yourself. Thats why I’m gonna take my lumps do my job, and just posterity not show up on furlough days, however I’ll still make sure my kids get the best from me.

• Link
• Report this comment

I noticed that MACE talked about administrative bloat and did it quite eloquently. http://www.theteachersadvocate.com

• Link
• Report this comment

I wouldn’t complain so much about being furloughed if it meant I stayed home and didn’t get paid. Our county plans to have our school day extended so we can make up teaching time to students for furloughed days. How do you call in sick for a month to not work that time for free?

I would join a real teacher’s union if you had them here in the south.

• Link
• Report this comment

Has Kathy Cox ever talked about administrative bloat? Has Sonny Perdue? Has PAGE? Has GAE? Well there’s your answer, if you want to know why teachers are being furloughed.

If teachers are going to join organizations that, for all practical purposes, are marching in lockstep with Kathy Cox and Sonny Perdue, then why are teachers surprised, or even upset this is happening?

As much abuse as is being heaped upon teachers these days in terms of overwhelming demands for performance combined with less support for their position than ever before, people should be outraged at what is happening to the teaching profession.

But with teachers as a whole almost congenitally incapable for standing up for themselves, and teachers showing a complete unwillingness to hold those organizations who speak for them the least bit accountable when those organizations side time and time again with administrative bloat over supporting teachers, at what do you have to stop empathizing with them, and start telling them they need to take a long hard look in the mirror?

How can the public have any outrage for teachers, when teachers aren’t willing to express any outrage for themselves?

• Link
• Report this comment

Crawford Lewis has at his fingertips,a technical system that enables him to televise at any time to every school in the Dekalb system. Therefore, it is totally stupid and uncaring about money, when he decided that he would have 13,000 teachers bused to various locations around town-just so he could”speak face to face with every teacher”. It makes more sense,economically, to use his paid staff,the paid tv system,to broadcast his speech. Did he not consider that he will have to pay all the bus drivers and spend a fortune on gas for the buses.If he cannot understand Economics101, it is past time to replace him and everyone who is on the school board who votes with him on such wild ideas.There are many ways to save the money without punishing the teachers. Keep up with plans like this and DeKalb County will find no teachers in the schools except inefficient ones who should be released from there contracts, but the “good old boy’- that tend to stay forever. There has to be a better way to save money. Cut the administrative salaries,their expense accounts,and really look at the money-sucking programs that do not work.

• Link
• Report this comment

@ Thomas—Working for free is no show of professionalism. The working conditions at my school were not very professional either. Last minute meetings, parents cursing people out, kids throwing chairs at me….I maintained my professionalism by not joining in on the craziness, showing up to work each day, well prepared and teaching to the best of my abilities.

• Link
• Report this comment

I agree with Gloria. MACE is so superior for teachers than GAE and PAGE!!! I joined MACE in 1997 and have never looked back. All I know is that my administrators know that I am a member of MACE. They have counted the cost. They don’t mess with me.

• Link
• Report this comment

Ernest, we could certainly talk about Dubose Porter’s proposal to collect existing taxes more efficiently – proponents say that would collect an additional $1 billion per year for the state government, as well as higher revenues for local governments.

We could have talked about eliminating the sales tax holiday while we were eliminating money from the paychecks of state workers. A sales tax holiday doesn’t save individuals very much money, but the cumulative effect is quite large – $10-13 million dollars of lost revenue.

We could talk about eliminating the CRCT in those grades in which it is not required for NCLB compliance.

We could talk about Sunday alcohol sales, which might generate more revenue for the state.

All of these things have already been suggested on this thread, all of them would help, and none require raising taxes or furloughing or firing personnel. It’s also been suggested that there is probably other “fat” in the state budget that could be eliminated, and that our professional organizations should be exploring those avenues.

I personally wouldn’t be opposed to raising taxes on non-essentials, such as alcohol, tobacco, and cell phones, but others might disagree.

• Link
• Report this comment

just say “no” to Senator Eric Johnson (the voucher man) as Governor!

• Link
• Report this comment

[...] time I wonder how many teachers will stop using their own money to pay for these items. Between the furloughs, no raises and increased health care costs, money is tight for [...]

• Link
• Report this comment

Question: What occupation requiring malpractice insurance pays less than teaching?

Answer: None

• Link
• Report this comment

Thanks ScienceTeacher671! Those are the kinds of suggestions I believe many citizens could probably support and would help advocate for. If anyone is willing to take this as an assignment, perhaps some teachers could write a ‘Letter to the Editor’ with the suggestions you mentioned with hopes of reaching a broader audience than those on the blog.

• Link
• Report this comment

@Thomas..I agree with Nikole. Working for free is idiocy, especially if you’ve already been doing it and are still not being recognized for your individual effort. Doctors are professionals and expect to be paid, attorneys are professionals and expect to be paid, CEOs are professionals and sure as heck expect to be paid. Why should teaching be any different?

Teacher are not volunteers, they are paid professionals. They chose their career knowing that the pay wouldn’t be great, but most have a passion for what they do (I know my husband and his co-workers do). They are asking that contracts be honored the same way they are expected to honor them. They are asking for forethought on changes made at the 11th hour.

My father has worked for AT&T for many years, and has received many attendance and performance awards. He is known for his outstanding work ethic. But he always told me that he expects an honest day’s pay for an honest day’s work. He will happily volunteer his time to good causes, but working for free is just crazy. I have the same mind. Going above and beyond the call of duty to advance or excel at your job is fine, but doing it just to get by is unacceptable.

• Link
• Report this comment

I’m a good teacher. I came to teaching from the business world 7 years ago because I felt the need to serve children – to help them learn, experience the joys of education, have fun in school, accomplish amazing feats, read great books, write like never before.

I still want to do that, but the cost has become too great to bear. Too many of our leaders see education as just a big number in a ledger book – another expense to be cut. I’m not sure how many of our leaders even encounter children in their everyday lives, much less a school, university, or educational environment.

Our slow abandonment of education is heartbreaking.

I’ve decided to leave education. Our society and leaders ask for too much and give far too little. I knew that being a teacher would require sacrifice…that was not a problem for me. But now the sacrifice has become too great, the future too bleak to willingly continue. I’ll go back to the business world – maybe not immediately, I understand the difficulties in current job market and economy – but I’ll return to a higher salary and easier work. I won’t like it as much, and I certainly won’t make much of a difference in the lives of children, but I’ll be able to better support my own family.

I’m sorry to you all – leaders, neighbors, friends, children – I’m letting you down, and it breaks my heart. I hope other good teachers will stay, but understand if they can’t. Education is broken.

• Link
• Report this comment

Ernest, I hate to tell you but my school portion of my property taxes went UP! $350. to be exact!

• Link
• Report this comment

Nikole, good luck with creating greater awareness of possible solutions. I bet if you came up with one general ‘letter’ and distributed it to several papers and media outlets, it will get attention.,

• Link
• Report this comment

How much is it costing the state to develop the new math curriculum and the associated standardized tests to go along with it, and how much is it costing districts to purchase the new math textbooks needed for the new curriculum?

• Link
• Report this comment

Remember when Ch 2 (I think) did a expose’ on all the retired administrators in DeKalb who were still working? Guess what most still are!
I’d like for someone to do a DeKalb family tree so all the nepotism could be exposed.
Remember the recent “grade changing” tv expose’. Were there ever any reprocussions for the county admin. who was involv ed?

• Link
• Report this comment

[...] time I wonder how many teachers will stop using their own money to pay for these items. Between the furloughs, no raises and increased health care costs, money … VN:F [1.1.8_518]please wait…Rating: [...]

• Link
• Report this comment

It’s cost $5000 to opt out of a teachers contract in Peach County and the school boards think nothing of furloughing teachers…what a one way street.

• Link
• Report this comment

An earlier comment of more efficient tax collection sure does seem appropriate.
“FWIW, there is an article in the 7/30 USA Today regarding the number of folks not paying their property taxes also increasing. You can read this article at:

http://www.usatoday.com/money/perfi/taxes/2009-07-29-delinquent-taxes_N.htm“

• Link
• Report this comment

Flipper…you are absoutely right. All the comments and yours is my favorite. If I could just count the days that are wasted with the kids running around during “spirit” week, homecoming, this and that…yes school is for socializing as well, but please…how many assemblies do we need where the kids are in the bleachers texting, talking and ignoring the speakers? Let’s jam the cell phones…maybe they will learn.

• Link
• Report this comment

Conservative Dekalb guy pointed out that he works extra because he wants nice things. I think he needs to realize that being an educator is virtualy a socialist enterprise. We are guaranteed a certain amount of pay for a certain number of days… Actually let me rephrase, we were guaranteed, but apparently government promises aren’t worth the paper they are printed on these days. We do not work extra for more pay, we work extra because if we don’t, your conservative offspring will be short changed in the classroom.
On another note, maybe teachers should rethink our attitude. Maybe since our contracts are basically a joke, maybe we should only work what they pay us for. What would happen to test scores, lessons, and general school conditions if we only worked our 8 hours a day? What would happen if all the prom duties, student clubs, and other extra curriculars were not covered by teachers. The state would be in an uproar. Unfortunately that will never happen, because leaving things incomplete, and poorly done is an idea that would stick in the gut of every educator worth a flip. If the state of Georgia and more importantly politicians, do not realize what a valuable comodity educators are, they may see what hardships in education really are.

• Link
• Report this comment

Cut down the tree that you are able to
online texas holdem poker [url=http://casino-online-slot.com/online-texas-holdem-poker/]online texas holdem poker[/url] poker face mp3 [url=http://want-play-casino.com/poker-face-mp3/]poker face mp3[/url] facebook poker chips [url=http://play-casino-free.com/facebook-poker-chips/]facebook poker chips[/url] auto insurance companies [url=http://medicinestablets.com/auto-insurance-companies.html]auto insurance companies[/url] casino computer game [url=http://gambling-play-online.com/casino-computer-game/]casino computer game[/url] caesar casino at lake tahoe [url=http://want-play-casino.com/caesar-casino-at-lake-tahoe/]caesar casino at lake tahoe[/url] poker all stars [url=http://want-online-gambling.com/poker-all-stars/]poker all stars[/url]

• Link
• Report this comment