Teacher absenteeism: Are mental health days on the rise?
Teacher absenteeism can adversely affect students. (AP Images)
The AJC has an interesting piece this morning on absenteeism among metro Atlanta teachers. The story by education writer Ty Tagami and database specialist Kelly Guckian is subscriber only and will not appear online so I can’t share a link. But I can provide a summary.
The AJC analyzed metro Atlanta attendance data for the past three years and found that teachers in nearly all districts missed on average more than 10 days due to illness, training, personal leave or jury duty. Sickness was the most common cause.
The story examines whether “mental health” days are increasing because of class size, diminishing respect and increasing responsibilities and accountability.
“It used to be that teachers only worried about teaching,” said Connie Jackson, president of the Cobb County Association of Educators. “Now, they have to worry about paperwork, evaluations, test scores, data management, keeping your students happy and keeping your parents happy. There’s so much more on teachers, that I think it’s contributed to absences.”
The piece says that research shows that when a teacher misses school, students learn less. Research suggests that the impact of a teacher missing 10 days a year compared with one who has perfect attendance is like the difference between a new teacher and one with three to four years experience.
Here is a brief snippet of the story:
“Nationally, teachers are out one day a month” or about 10 days a year, said education researcher Raegen Miller, whose work on teacher absence is widely cited. “If in Georgia it’s more than that, that inevitably raises the question — what’s going on?”
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution analyzed data reported by school systems to the Georgia Department of Education. The newspaper also used the state Open Records law to obtain figures on how much money each school district spent on substitute teachers.
Gwinnett County Public Schools, the largest system in Georgia, was the only large metro district to match the national average in each of the past three years. Elsewhere, though, the rates were higher. Last year, for instance, in Atlanta Public Schools and in Fulton and DeKalb counties, teachers were absent on average about 13 days. They were out 11 days in Cobb County.
Studies show a link between teacher absence and lower student test scores, especially in math — something that students, parents and educators have always known.
–From Maureen Downey, for the AJC Get Schooled blog
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208 comments Add your comment
d
March 29th, 2012
9:35 am
GM – I’ll tell you, it was Home Depot (and I spent most of my time on the sales floor of a store)…. they are hiring this time of year. No lala land here.
rxpfzuq
March 29th, 2012
9:38 am
Students and teachers are face to face everyday. Sick students and teachers are face to face everyday. Both my children missed a scheduled ortho appt this week (wk prior to spring break) because no sub took the job. Yes, I tried to schedule during the spring break week 2 months ago but no appt’s were available. With no one to take the class my principal said I could not leave. My wife works an hourly job and haves no sick leave.
We had a family last grading period take a week long cruise. Guess who was required to make sure all the missed assignments were graded prior to the end of the last grading period? Oh, the student turn in the work 2 days before the grading period ended. Not allowed to give an incomplete or zero even though the work was turned in 4 weeks after they returned.
Like other bloggers before me, I challenge anyone (State Legistaors included) to come spend time doing what teachers do for your children everyday. It is not like any other job/career out there.
Chances are if you have a job you are thankful. You wake up everyday to go to that job. You do the work. You go home and squeeze in what you can. Let’s just agree tht we all do that.
How many of you are required to attend after hours meetings (club activities, athletics, service days, PTSA meetings, faculty meetings where the newest partner in Ed is hocking their wares)? All for no extra pay.
Tonya C.
March 29th, 2012
9:38 am
GM:
While the job market isn’t stellar, good candidates are finding good opportunities. As someone who was recently on the market, the companies I interviewed for and the one I was hired on with all offered fringe benefits of some type. I am currently employed by a small business who has great insurance AND two weeks of paid vacation. So, your situation is bad but like you say about teachers all the time, you CHOOSE to stay there.
EduKtr
March 29th, 2012
9:39 am
@eric 1997: I just want to keep facts straight. The NEA is joined at the hip with the Democrat Party. If you pay dues to CCAE/GAE/NEA your money will be used to support the current Democrat running for president and every other one who follows.
To Misinformed -- It's GET SCHOOLED get it?
March 29th, 2012
9:42 am
Misinformed you ask “Could we PLEASE have a news article or blog which analyzes down to the second what employees are doing in some career other than teaching????”
The title of the blog is “Get Schooled,” which means it relates to teaching and teachers are part of teaching.
So, an analysis of the people doing the most important job in the school is appropriate on a Get Schooled job.
If this blog were titled “Business Women” we could analyze what i do for a living and how I spend my time. If it was titled “Journalist du Jour” we could analyze what maureen Downey and her colleagues do for a living…but…i think you already know that, don’t you?
What you really mean is you are a teacher who cannot stand to be criticized for any reason.
you and some (not all) teachers on this blog want to criticize parents, students, administrators and everyone else involved in the school system but you don’t want anyone to criticize you, which is ironic and sad.
GM
Teacherleader
March 29th, 2012
9:45 am
Please remember that each teacher is subjected to an incredible amount of germs daily. When your school districts do not have support systems in place to help students, teachers are the victims. I have seen teacher with pink eye, staff infections, and ring worm, among other things this year. When I was a young teacher I did not miss a day either. I foolishly staggered into work and kept the germ cycle flowing. Teachers have surgery, ailing parents, sick kids, and sick spouses like everyone else.
We want teachers to be highly qualified without providing training or time to meet and collaborate. We afford every other profession with the right to look at data and align it with best practices so that they can give the best service to their customers. How we keep up with technology and progressive teaching standards if educators are not given the right to learn during the work day?
I noticed that the authors of the articles have no background in education. Visit a school and give a face to the data.
irisheyes
March 29th, 2012
9:45 am
Haven’t we been around this before. The majority of teachers are women, many who are in their child-bearing years. As much as some people don’t like it, they will have babies during the school year. I did this year, and I took six weeks off. There are at least two other teachers in my building who are the same. If Georgia is going to continue down the road of driving their older, more experienced teachers out and replace them with younger teachers, you’re going to see more of this. Or, are teachers not allowed to have babies and use the sick days we are given? (We don’t get maternity leave, per se. I have to use my sick days, and if I don’t have enough, I don’t get paid. I realize that is the same for most private companies, but I wanted to make sure that no one thought I had a gold-plated leave plan.)
eric1997
March 29th, 2012
9:49 am
Joined and support are different…. but your passion is nice to see, even if misguided.
Entitlement Society
March 29th, 2012
9:55 am
To all of the teachers whining and complaining, telling us that their job is so hard and unlike any other job out there, why don’t you just quit and go find another job? You certainly are having no problem telling GM that she has a lousy job and should go find another one. Our country’s public education system is a disaster and totally failing anyway, we won’t miss you if you all quit.
oldtimer
March 29th, 2012
9:58 am
Parent, so sorry your child had a teacher that had a baby….she should have planned better…(LOL)…Actually the county should have planned better to hire a qualified sub…Teachers have babies,children who get sick They get sick. They have houses that must be closed on, doctor appointments, root canals, and everything else eveybody has. Many who work in an office can take their “hour” of lunch to do some business or see a doctor. Teachers have lunch duty.
Most I knew worked sick and took off only in emergencies with their family. I guess I worked with great people, but I never knew anyone who just took a day off. It required to much planning.
Don't Tread
March 29th, 2012
9:58 am
I think I’d be looking for a nice corporate job in the HR Training department. A stress-free environment, relatively speaking.
rxpfzuq
March 29th, 2012
10:00 am
Oppressed comment. So do you expect women in other careers to plan for their babies to be born during their 2 week vacation or on long weekends.
Don't Tread
March 29th, 2012
10:00 am
I’m sure “staff infections” contribute to absenteeism
teacher&mom
March 29th, 2012
10:01 am
@Maureen:
“The story examines whether “mental health” days are increasing because of growing class sizes, diminishing respect and increasing responsibilities and accountability.”
So what were the conclusions of the article? Has there been an increase in “mental health” days?
still trying
March 29th, 2012
10:02 am
@Jane, Right you are. You haven’t really lived until you’ve spent an afternoon balancing an attendence register or calculating grades and manually putting them on those foldable report cards used back then. Your general curriculum was also on target. Funny, I don’t recall many teacher absences in those days unless it was real illness or maturnity leave.
still trying
March 29th, 2012
10:05 am
Teachers get personal days during the year and they can do whatever they hell they want with them as long as its formally requested in advance and signed off on and that includes trips to Disney with the kids.
Really
March 29th, 2012
10:06 am
@Entitlement Society; do you actually have any thoughts of your own or do you just parrott Faux New?
Dr. Craig Spinks/ Georgians for Educational Excellence
March 29th, 2012
10:07 am
Teaching in a public school in an affluent suburban county in our state got to be too much for me 7 years ago. I had intended to teach forty years but the combination of administrative stupidity, the USDOE- and GDOE-generated paper chase and disrespectful, disruptive and detached students motivated me to change my plans and retire after 31, eighteen of which were in forensic and correctional settings.*
I visit a local elementary school once or twice a week now for from 30-90 minutes at a time. How the teachers in that school perform as well as they do considering the circumstances under which they teach is incomprehensible to me. And the school I visit is rather tame by Augusta standards.
* By the way, there was much more discipline and respect in the forensic and correctional settings because there were more admins there with backbones.
Colonel Jack
March 29th, 2012
10:07 am
@Entitlement Society: You probably wouldn’t miss any of us if we quit teaching.
Your children, on the other hand, will.
teacher&mom
March 29th, 2012
10:08 am
@Entitlement Society: Actually a high number of teachers take your advice and leave the profession in the first five years. Most never return. One would think that entering the “real world” would send them crawling back to the teaching profession on their hands and knees begging for another chance to return.
Funny…we rarely see those teachers return to the profession…wonder why? Any ideas?
Entitlement Society
March 29th, 2012
10:14 am
@Colonel Jack – after one disasterous year of APS, my children will never set foot in another government school, so no, my children will not miss you.
@teacher&mom – my guess is because the government education system in this country is such a disaster. Corporate America is run much more efficiently.
Cliff Claven
March 29th, 2012
10:16 am
@Entitlement Society
I can’t speak for everyone, but I love my job and felt like I was called to do it. However, there are things that I don’t like about it and feel the need to speak out against it.
A Conservative Voice
March 29th, 2012
10:18 am
@eric1997
March 29th, 2012
9:33 am
As a side note, no one is forcing anyone to join any professional organization, so why does this constantly need to be brought up in this forum?
Because, eric1997, the NEA is a “pro-union organization”. Teacher unions should be outlawed for the good of public education, although nothing short of eliminating the USDOE should be our number one goal.
EduKtr
March 29th, 2012
10:22 am
@ A Conservative Voice: The National Education Association proclaims itself to be a union right on its own website. See its link below, or just Google “NEA” and “union.”
ref: http://www.nea.org/home/18469.htm
teacher&mom
March 29th, 2012
10:29 am
@Entitlement Society: “my guess is because the government education system in this country is such a disaster. Corporate America is run much more efficiently.”
Now that is really funny. Yes…let’s all consider how Enron ran more efficiently. What about the banking industry? Now there a segment of Corporate America we can all be proud of. What about Wall Street? They run things quite well don’t they? I quietly thank the oil speculators every time I fill up my tank. *ahem*
There is a mindset in this country that big profits are an automatic indication of “efficiency”. Perhaps that was true at one time and most likely still applies to smaller businesses. However, if this recession has taught us anything, it is this… Corporate profit has as much to do with power and control than “efficiency”. IMHO…
Keep drinking the kool-aid. That kool-aid mustache matches your eyes.
Batgirl
March 29th, 2012
10:32 am
@morgan, I kind of agree with you regarding the teacher who took her kids to Disney World on school days. We teachers are unhappy when our students miss days for such trips, so we should set an example and not take our own kids out on school days. On the other hand, I have a colleague whose husband won a trip to Bali that had to be taken this week. It’s a trip of a lifetime, and I don’t blame her one bit for taking the week off. Also, it’s just her and her husband; their son has been in school every day this week.
@d, I will spend the first day of my spring break preparing for the colonoscopy that I will have the second day, but at least I don’t have any papers to grade:)
@eduktr, “yoused” is incorrect spelling, not poor grammar.
Here in Georgia, no one is forced to join GAE/NEA, so if a teacher does not agree with NEA positions, he/she can join PAGE or some of the smaller organizations or they can go it alone. Therefore, I see no problem with the NEA and GAE supporting Democratic rather than Republican candidates. I’m betting the National Rifle Association and the National Right to Life Coalition support mainly Republican candidates and not Democrats.
Colonel Jack
March 29th, 2012
10:33 am
@Entitlement Society: I’ve no doubt any year in APS is a disaster; fortunately, I don’t teach in APS. And I was speaking in a more general way than specifically to your individual children.
Principal
March 29th, 2012
10:35 am
Long term leaves are the biggest problem. We need a better system for securing high quality certified substitute teachers who are willing to take on the 6-12 week jobs when teachers are out on maternity leave or for other medical emergencies. We can’t pay a substitute teacher $80-100 per day and expect them to teach 20-32 students, hold students accountable for academics and behavior, plan lessons, hold parent conferences, answer parent emails, grade projects/homework/ tests/classwork, enter assessments in a complicated student information system, and attend faculty and PTA meetings. Schools need long term subs to perform all those tasks but the money is not enough. If we truly want instruction, teaching, and learning to continue when a teacher has to be out then we have to pay for it. If schools systems can’t or wont pay for this then we will continue to get the revolving door of substitute teachers who are only babysitting
Parent
March 29th, 2012
10:41 am
I will completely agree that the lack of a teacher in my child’s class for 8 weeks was the administrators fault. Sadly, DCSS does not hold administrators accountable for anything. Everyone above the level of principal is to worried about keeping their own job to worry about how the schools are doing.
I don’t fault the teacher for having a baby or even for having said baby on the first day of school. I fault the principal for knowing all summer long this was going to happen and making no arrangements for a certified teacher. He knew he had enough students for 4 3rd grade classes. He had 2 experienced teachers, 1 teacher on maternity leave, and 1 sub because he was in the process of hiring a 4th teacher (that took 6 weeks) None of this was unknown in May. It became obvious after 3 weeks that the 3rd grade was chaos. I requested that my child be moved to a class with a certified teacher and was informed that it was not permitted and when the regular teacher returned everything would “fix itself”
This is not a one time problem in my local school (we will not be returning in the fall.) Repeatedly the principal has allowed absences without insuring subs are in place. One morning the PTA president had to cover the class because the sub never showed. Twice the class was simply doled out to other classes for the day.
I am not surprised that teachers never return after experiencing the private sector. I am also not surprised when students never return from private school. Fool me once shame on you, fool me twice shame on me.
@Parent
March 29th, 2012
10:44 am
Parent, along with the cot I keep under my desk so I can sleep here at night catching up on paperwork and grading, I also keep a well-stocked medical kit that includes any and all medication and first aid supplies so that I don’t ever have to miss a day of work. My generous salary allows me to have a doctor on call so that I can get my sinuses examined during my planning or lunch, and address any other sickness. We have dentist chairs hidden in our teacher lounges for our dental cleaning parties at night.
It sounds like you had frustrating situation that was not the teacher’s fault – she was OUT on maternity leave. The administration should have taken care of the siutation. But I have a hard time seeing compassion in your post for teachers that deal with real life problems during the 180 days. I wish I could tell my body to get sick only in the summer, but illnesses happen whenever, and not on a schedule. In the corporate world, I could tell my manager that I would be in later in the day because I had a drs appt. In school, I have to take a minimum of 1/2 day for a sub to cover my classes. The situation just does not have the flexibility of other jobs. And I did learn that in my orientation. We just deal with it and hope that some people can see through the propaganda of how many absences teachers might have in a year.
Entitlement Society
March 29th, 2012
10:46 am
@teacher&mom-obviously, you are a teacher, only brainwashed by headlines, unable to understand the macro-and micro-economics of our country and the world. You highlight only a few examples of corporations. I’ll sit back with my “kool-aid” and watch you all complain all day while your government education system slowly implodes. Perhaps then you’ll really have something about which you can complain. Good bye.
Lynn43
March 29th, 2012
10:46 am
I think GM must really be Chip Rogers who is constantly forcing legislators to pass his anti public schools agenda and is on the board of ALEC whose goal is to dismantle public schools. There are too many contradictions in these writing for any of them to be true.
Entitlement Society
March 29th, 2012
10:47 am
@Colonel Jack – point well taken
Kelly
March 29th, 2012
10:50 am
Just to clarify, these results have not mentioned whether this accounts for maternity leave. Obviously this would skew the average quite a bit. Plus, since young women dominate the field….it would play a significant role. I teach in Forsyth and the “average” says 11 missed days….but aside from coworkers battling cancer, a difficult pregnancy, maternity leave or other life altering circumstances….teachers are not taking that many days here.
That being said, we respect the fact that learning stops when teachers are absent and strive to avoid missing class time if possible.
Ron F.
March 29th, 2012
11:02 am
“I know many women who are teachers want to plan their pregnancies so they get the last two months of school off and then keep on going through the Summer”
If a woman has THAT much control over her and her husband’s bodies, she probably deserves the break. We’ve had several new moms at my school this year, and not a single one got pregnant exactly when she wanted to- how ridiculous to think they could control it that well. That’s a low blow for you, GM…
I would think if you took out maternity leave and looked just at truly “sick” leave, you might see a different story. I know how often many in my school schedule surgeries, dental procedures, etc. around breaks. I even had a dentist do a temporary patch on a broken tooth so I wouldn’t have to miss school time. I’ve taught with the flu, I’ve taught with strep, I even brought my sick child to school with me when a sub couldn’t be found. It was that or no teacher- so they told me I could bring him. All that said, I better not hear one complaint when I do finally have to take a day off. I have almost a hundred of them built up. What’s the point of offering it as a benefit if you’re going to give us grief when we have to use it?
EduKtr
March 29th, 2012
11:09 am
@ Batgirl: Not sure what your spelling reference is. But you’re right about teachers having a choice whether or not to join the union the National Education Association proclaims itself to be (see above).
That’s no doubt why PAGE has twice the membership of GAE. Thank God we’re a Right-to-Work state.
Dottie
March 29th, 2012
11:10 am
Teachers are so underpaid for the job that they do, it is ridiculous! Their paid time off is PART OF THEIR PAY! Almost everyone I know in business has use it or lose it Paid Leave Time. What is the AJC’s policy? Instead of screaming headlines of how we spend millions on substitutes, you should be writing about how we don’t spend enough on salaries to attract smart, educated people that are skilled at actually teaching. My husband has been teaching for 24 years with a Masters degree and earns less than $65,000/year. Show me any other profession that under pays so poorly! And, what about all that time off in the summer? Well, it is triple to cost to travel in the summer. We don’t get to take advantage of spring and fall airfare sales because of school.
There are much bigger issues going on in our school systems that deserve attention. There are teachers that have 35 students in their class, 8 of whom have learning disorders and can’t read. So, there is another teacher in the room. The lead teacher doesn’t get to choose that Special Ed teacher, doesn’t have any authority over them and doesn’t get paid for managing or leading them. Why don’t you write a story on where most of the education dollars are actually spent and stop bashing our teachers?
Dr. John Trotter
March 29th, 2012
11:12 am
In 1990, GAE-NEA refused to endorse Johnny Isakson for Governor. He met with the leaders of GAE-NEA, and he really wanted the endorsement. I know. I was on staff with GAE at the time. He talked to me on more than one occasion about the endorsement. Zell Miller, at the behest of James Carville who was running his campaign (before Zell introduced him to Bill Clinton), insulted GAE in the media. He didn’t want to be viewed as beholden to GAE…especially since he had had such a cozy with relationship with GAE through the years.
GAE just couldn’t bring itself to endorse a Republican for Governor. So, there was officially a No Endorsement. Yes, GAE-NEA is extremely close to the Democratic Party (should we say “Kissing Cousins”? Ha!). GAE’s endorsement, in my opinion, really doesn’t affect the outcome of races. I have run many candidates who neither sought nor received GAE’s endorsement, and we clean its candidates’ clock nearly every time. So much for endorsements! Ha! In fact, at MACE, we don’t endorse any candidates, be they for City Hall or the White House. We figure that teachers are very intelligent and can figure out for whom to vote. It’s not our business to tell them how to vote. Heck, we can’t even agree over candidates among ourselves at the MACE Office! Ha!
By the way, A Conservative Voice and old-time friend, you are right about the U. S. Department of Education. It should should be done away with. It does more harm than good (like SACS). But, let’s not do away with the First Amendment. Workers have the freedom of association (according to the Court) and the right to organize, and doing away with this chops away at the First Amendment.
Gotta run. Will be busy all day. Y’all have it, and in a couple of days, perhaps I can re-visit. Like McArthur promised, I shall return! Ha!
k teacher
March 29th, 2012
11:15 am
Is Ty Tagami married? Have children? Assumming the writer is male, does he take time off to keep the kids at home when they are sick or does he expect his wife to do it? With the majority of teachers being female, there are responsibilities when that happens that most men won’t/don’t stay home to do. By the way, I am a full-time single dad (no mom in the picture) to a nine-year-old special education child. And yes, I’ve missed three or four days this school year .. him up all night vomitting, me with pink-eye (caught at school from students whose parents sent them anyway) and the like. Plus two or three “professional learning/collaboration days” in the mix. These are not the fault of the teacher or anyone else. They are a part of life and are the effects of the type job we do and are a neccessary part of it. When you are around 15 to 32 children 5 days a week with many coughing and sneezing and snorting and vommitting and pooping and peeing, yes, you are going to get sick.
Middle school teacher
March 29th, 2012
11:18 am
I personally have not missed a day in 4 years, except for days when I’m in a meeting scheduled for me by the system. It’s just so much easier to come to school everyday instead of having to prepare sub plans. And then, when I return, I’ve got to deal with the inevitable discipline problems that arise when a substitute teacher is in the room. We get enough breaks that I can schedule doctor’s appts, dentist appts, etc. during those breaks. When we do have scheduled meeting or training days, I’ve noticed that math teachers are pulled out more than any other subject area. I thought we were so worried about these kids not learning math, yet they continue to pull math teachers out of the classroom. If there is a direct coorelation between teacher absences and students learning less, we might need to rethink all of these meetings and training days. Someone needs to get their priorities in order.
kjk28
March 29th, 2012
11:23 am
Finally!! An article about too many teacher absences! As a sub, I have worked in many classes where the teacher is absent 2 or 3 times a month. Don’t ask me, ask the kids: “Ms. So-and so is never here!” I was amazed at all of the planning, training and committee meetings that pulled teachers out of the classroom. Wouldn’t it be better to reinstate the furlough days and used them for teacher training rather than paying for subs? I do my best in the classroom, but no substitute can do as good of a job as the teacher.
teach1
March 29th, 2012
11:29 am
Entitlement Society
Yes I did but it was a typo… as I am assuming your mistyping of my name was a typo as well.
EduKtr
March 29th, 2012
11:31 am
@ Dr. Trotter: The real issue with GAE/NEA being joined at the hip with the Democrat Party is the cost to its Georgia members who aren’t gung-ho liberal Democrats.
Right now, for instance, their dues money is being wasted in far-away Wisconsin and Ohio to fight the union bosses’ political battles. Locally, GAE building reps struggle mightily to distract members from this fact—or to deny knowledge of it.
Dr. Craig Spinks/ Georgians for Educational Excellence
March 29th, 2012
11:32 am
Teacher absenteeism is frequently, if not usually, symptomatic of widespread school climate problems which effete administrators and school board attorneys have allowed to proliferate and to undermine the viability of traditional public schooling.
Beverly Fraud
March 29th, 2012
11:39 am
Gee the school system that has the most oppressive corporate culture has among the very HIGHEST rates of absenteeism?
So what does this system attempt to do? Address the corporate culture? Ha! Try terminating contracts for “excessive absences” when STATE LAW MANDATES that teachers be given more sick days than what the system tries to terminate the teacher for having.
Dekalbite
March 29th, 2012
11:45 am
How many parents see one child come home with a stomach bug or a an upper respiratory inefection and pretty sonne it goes through the whole family? Now multiply that by 30 kids. Any infectious desiease doctor or even Primary Care Physician will tell you that teachers statistically will contract more infectious diseases simply because of exposure. So will child care personnel.
When I was in the corporate world for a decade, I rarely contracted any infectious diseases. As soon as I went back to teaching it took at least five years to build back up my resistance. I was sick so much more just by virtue of being exposed all day to 30 students who at any given time several to many had the “bug of the month”. U
Also, many principals ask teachers to a schedule their physicals and doctor appointments for even something as simple as a sinus infection during the day and take time off. In business, you can take a late and a little longer lunch hour and do that. Who wants teachers coming to work sick to teach their kids?
You must factor in the aging population of teachers. The U.S. has around 2 million teachers who are nearing retirement age (posters who don’t teach – now is your chance to enter teaching!). More older people get chronic diseases that need more frequent doctor visits to manage their disease. If you are not old, don’t worry. You will get there and you too will get a chronic disease. That’s pretty much a guarantee. Now you know what to look forward to.
“In 2000, teachers ages 40 and over accounted for 60 percent of the teacher population, compared with 40 percent in 1980. With a large number of teachers approaching retirement age, it is projected that 2 million new teachers will need to be hired in the next decade”
http://www.prb.org/Articles/2002/TheChangingAgeStructureofUSTeachers.aspx
I’d like to see an article on the coming teacher shortage since the professions “graying” but I guess we’ll just put our heads in the sand until that crisis is upon us.
Throckmorton P. Gildersleeve
March 29th, 2012
12:01 pm
And then there is the local North Georgia middle school principal who is “requesting” that all of his team leaders work at school for the first 10 days AFTER school is over for the year. When asked about pay, he replied “It isn’t always about money.”
No, it’s not always about the money. It’s about being asked, in the name of “for the children,” to do something for nothing. He, however, is being paid for those days.
teacher&mom
March 29th, 2012
12:05 pm
@Entitled Society: I wasn’t complaining or whining. I just stated a few facts. I had to chuckle at the reference to understanding micro/macro economics. If you knew me, you’d find the humor in that jab as well.
And while you sit back and watch the government education continues to erode away, I’ll be in my classroom working with 170 students. It has been a very difficult year but I belong in the classroom. I’m a darn good teacher. I won’t ever apologize for standing up for them. I also won’t apologize for taking off for my dad’s surgery, attending a friend’s funeral, or catching a stomach bug.
Goodbye
Beverly Fraud
March 29th, 2012
12:13 pm
And then there is the local North Georgia middle school principal who is “requesting” that all of his team leaders work at school for the first 10 days AFTER school is over for the year. When asked about pay, he replied “It isn’t always about money.”
You want to call this guy on his TOTAL BS, Throckmorton? Here’s what you do?
Tell him you aren’t available those days. Then find out the ten days THAT HE GETS OFF, and tell him “FOR THE CHILDREN” that you will rearrange your schedules to meet with him during HIS TIME OFF.
REMIND him, HIS words “It’s not about the money” and tell him you LOOK FORWARD to meeting with him on those days.
Then sit back and watch him TRY TO SQUIRM his way out of it.
HS Public Teacher
March 29th, 2012
12:28 pm
I honestly don’t think that the general public (including the students) have any idea what the real job description of a teacher in Georgia includes.
I’m not whining and I’m not complaining. I just think that they know even the tip of the iceburg!!!