Are school budget cuts leaving teachers “overstressed, overburdened and overwhelmed”?
The AJC has a good story on shrinking school budgets. The question is how these deep cuts will affect the classroom and student learning.
In their budgets for the 2013 fiscal year, which began Sunday, many of the biggest school districts cut their teaching staff, which will drive up the number of students in each classroom. Most also imposed furlough days, meaning teachers will lose time for planning lessons or hold class fewer days.
Among metro Atlanta’s biggest school systems, only Fulton County escaped significant cuts. That’s because Fulton curbed spending in prior years, shaving about $200 million since 2009. The rest of metro Atlanta’s big school districts — Atlanta and the systems in Clayton, Cobb, DeKalb and Gwinnett counties — slashed around $150 million collectively, cutting at least 2,000 teaching positions.
The loudest uproar was in DeKalb, where about 500 teaching positions and 600 support positions were eliminated as part of $78.6 million in cuts. Class sizes will rise by two students on average. Even with the cuts, the school board raised taxes by one mill, or about 4 percent.
Dori Kleber, a Dunwoody parent, volunteered often at Kingsley Charter Elementary School, where she has two children. The two dozen students in her daughter’s kindergarten class had to squeeze tight to fit on a rug they shared for activities like counting in turn by fives.
Kleber, who graduated from the DeKalb school system, recalls when there were 18 children in a kindergarten classroom. She wonders how big classrooms will be allowed to grow. “It just seems like it’s starting to be impossible,” she said. “My children have had some excellent teachers, but I see those teachers overstressed, overburdened and overwhelmed.”
–From Maureen Downey, for the AJC Get Schooled blog
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146 comments Add your comment
GwinnettParentz
July 3rd, 2012
2:44 pm
@irisheyes: If you’re unhappy with your teaching job WHY DON’T YOU QUIT AND FIND A NEW LINE OF WORK?
It’s the obvious question that never gets answered on this blog!
In fact, you owe it to parents and the HUNDREDS of qualified graduates out there eager to take your place and enjoy your pay and taxpayer-subsidized benefits. True, you’d have to work 12 months per year in a private sector job rather than just 9 months.
But wouldn’t you be happier? Or is whining to an audience too emotionally rewarding?
Fred in DeKalb
July 3rd, 2012
3:23 pm
Has Fred been banned from the DSW blog simply because he has a different point of view? If so, it says a lot about the objectives of those running that blog. They obviously don’t appreciate differing opinions during a discussion. Facts will always trump speculation.
Sandy Springs Parent
July 3rd, 2012
3:26 pm
Perhaps the reason Fulton county hasn’t made such drastic cuts is because there tax accessors office is not following Chip’s tax bill that says they must use sale prices of all sales for the last year. I bought my house last year for $345,750 from the Estate of a 90 year old. They are trying to say the house is worth $565,000. They have the land cost of my .6 acre lot at $307,000. The lot that abuts my lot from the rear is 2.4 acres and is an area of $1.5 million dollar houses the lot is only valued at $294K. So my lot should only be $75K. The lot next to that one is 3 acres and has a much newer than my 47 year old unrenovated house, which is triple the size the house is valued at $1.4 M and the 3 acres estate lot at $347K.
While looking up what they did on following the law at putting the houses to their actual sale value. I looked up the other houses I looked at and bid on in the Sandy Springs, Ridgeview and Riverwood School Districts. They had only bothered to set one house at the lowered value it had actually sold for. Some of the things the County Tax Accessors office has done is out and out fraud. The house around the corner had been owned by the original owner since 1961, he sold it in a regular sale, he is still living ( I believe he moved to a Retirement Community) for $262K). Several sales around $300K could not get financing for a loan, because the house did not appraise. The house was bought by someone willing to do the cosmetics and the new roof a $7-10K project but a reguirement for an FHA loan as well as a running pool that the old man was not willing to do. The buyer listed the house ownership in an LLC. Fulton County lists the house as the same owner changed his name to an LLC and not a valid transfer, thereby excluding the sale. I spoke to the Agent, my Agent had spoken to the Agent between the numerous offers on this house, it was a regular sale.
A house at the end of the street that is over 3,300 sf was a bank foreclosure. The sale is clearly recorded. It was not on the courthouse steps. It sold in the $250K’s. These are all in the Heards Ferry Elementary. Then Further down in the High Point Elementary. They have a Short sale that is 18 years old correct at $345K sales price. But they have the house next door which was a Freddy Mac Foreclosue listed as though is has a $12K + pool, there is no room in the back yard for a pool. Then they have the price listed as the same as the prior year assesment, ignoring this years sale which was 16K or so lower. Since, then this April, a house at the end of the street with more square footage sold for only $320k.
Even former Real House wife of Atlanta Sheree Whitfield and her mother are being overcharged. They did not lower the price they paid for the lot and house they bought as a Foreclosure. They Paid about $307K for the house and 1 acre. The lot was on the books for around $200K with the house around $417K. The house was torn down by Dec. 30, 2011. Yet Fulton County, didn’t even bother to lower the taxes to what they paid $307, let alone properly to just the land value $200K, since no house existed then. It is well documented on the RHOA shows. It was torn down and an empty lot at that time. It is still just a prartially framed house, maybe 25% done. There seems to be some engineering issues with the roof rafters over the entry foyer.
The only sales they seem to have gotten right are about 20 new homes that have 10+ ceilings and 4,000 sq ft. High End features, that were build on West Belle Isle in 2007 -2010. They were originally priced in the $800K’s. They failed to sell, then they were lowered in price to the $550K price range. They are beautiful luxury homes. If I had $550K I would have bought one. Instead I bought a 47 year old unrenovated old house with 8′ ceilings, pink and green bathrooms, since I only had in the mid $300’s to spend. Yet Fulton County wants to tax $215K over what I paid and violate the law.
My realtor tells me, that many in Sandy Springs and North Fulton County are appealing their taxes. Fulton didn’t follow the rules as to sales. They excluded sales for determining fair market value. Fulton maybe in deep dodo when they have to roll back the assessments in Buckhead, Sandy Springs and the rest of North Fulton. Lets put is this way how can a house you paid $345K for and had big problems even getting it to appraise for that have over $7,400 in Property taxes.
First Fulton, tried to tell me the law expired last year. it did not.
Beverly Fraud
July 3rd, 2012
3:31 pm
@GwinnettParentz,
What you’re not getting is the as the teacher’s TEACHING conditions go, so the child’s LEARNING conditions go.
If there OVERWHELMING SENTIMENT of teaching conditions now is as expressed on this blog (and trust me it IS) what do you think that portends for the child’s LEARNING conditions?
Now if you want to use that as justification to dismantle the public school apparatus, FINE. (Running it through the Large Hadron Collider would be a good place to start)
But even IF you can find “qualified graduates” do you really think they will STAY for this nonsense?
Beverly Fraud
July 3rd, 2012
3:35 pm
If THE overwhelming sentiment that is…
NTLB
July 3rd, 2012
3:38 pm
@GwinnetParentz–No entitled “qualified graduate” wants to put in the extra hours, energy, and work without reaping any entitlement benefits.
GwinnettParentz
July 3rd, 2012
3:49 pm
@Beverly: It’s not rocket science. If the overabundance of qualified applicants out there are willing to work 9 months per year for 12 months of pay and exceptional benefits—and produce at least as good test results—then let’s do taxpayers, parents and YOU a favor and make the switch.
You can then wait tables and have something REAL to whine about!
CCMST
July 3rd, 2012
4:01 pm
@GwinnettParentz – do you read this blog? You asked about going elsewhere for work and then stated, “It’s the obvious question that never gets answered on this blog!”
I guess you missed the essay Maureen posted from Jordan – you know, the one where she outlined why she was leaving the teaching profession? The one that had over 300 responses?
I guess you miss Fled’s numerous nuggets of advice telling Georgia teachers to “Give up. Throw in the towel. Flee” – and the responses indicating that lots of teachers are doing just that!
You’re missing the important point of what Beverly Fraud and Dr. Trotter regularly remind readers of: You can’t have good LEARNING conditions until you have good TEACHING conditions. You bemoan (wink to Jordan) the quality of the teaching force, and yet act as though anyone wanting a good, safe, professional environment is an ungrateful whiner. Who’s going to sign up for that? Who’s going to stay??
Teachers are leaving – many are the one’s with so-called “real” degrees. They are leaving to work in the so-called “real” world – and seeing pay raises, equivalent or better benefits, and professional work environments. And they are competing with everyone else looking for jobs…that ought to help the economy.
CCMST
July 3rd, 2012
4:02 pm
*ones, not one’s – oops.
Beverly Fraud
July 3rd, 2012
4:10 pm
Yes Gwinnett the teachers can leave; they ARE leaving. But the CHILDREN have to stay. THEY have to remain in the cesspool that has been creating NOT by the teachers, but by the teaching CONDITIONS
What do you say to them?
GwinnettParentz
July 3rd, 2012
4:17 pm
@CCMST: You stubbornly avoid addressing the facts. There are FAR MORE qualified applicants for teaching jobs than there are positions at this point. So why don’t the whiners just LEAVE and make room for new blood and new ideas?
Why must we put up with their constant whining?
I love teaching. I hate what it is becoming...
July 3rd, 2012
4:26 pm
@ Entitlement Society
From all of the chatter seen on this blog, it would appear that these private sector workers DEFINITELY have the spare time to go out and find a part time job on top of their full time job….it sure looks as if they’ve got plenty of time to chat it up on blogs while they’re “at work.”
BTW, have you looked into finding a “part time summer job” for two months time in this economy? I didn’t take a summer job this year because I figured there were other people out there who needed the income more than I do right now.
@GwinnettParentz “Why must we put up with their constant whining?”
You know, I wonder the same thing, why on an Eudcation Blog, we teachers have to put up with the constant “whining” from folks who have no idea what we do, but just think they do.
I love teaching. I hate what it is becoming...
July 3rd, 2012
4:27 pm
Yes. I mis-typed. Lo siento
Good Mother
July 3rd, 2012
4:42 pm
This is a universal problem, not just a school system problem. The economhy is in the dumps. People lost their jobs and the rest of us holding the remaining jobs are doing twice the work or more and are overstressed and overworked.
When I am sick, there is no substitute employee to fill in for me.It just piles up on top of all the extra work I have to do because others were also laid off permanently.
Dollars for education comes from taxes. When people don’t have jobs, they don’t pay taxes.
So get in line and start complaining to the heads of all those American companies who hire cheap labor overseas. That is the downfall of our economy.
CCMST
July 3rd, 2012
5:11 pm
@GwinnettParentz – you don’t have to put up with the constant “whining” – it’s a free country and you are free to read something else.
It’s funny though. what so many of the be-moaners call “whining” appear to me to be attempts to clarifying the gross misconceptions out there about this job. There are a lot of half-truths flying around out there. I believe you mentioned “healthcare for life.” Pleased elaborate and cite your source, because as far as I knew, teachers were supposed to get Medicare at 65, just like everyone else.
As to your question, “There are FAR MORE qualified applicants for teaching jobs than there are positions at this point. So why don’t the whiners just LEAVE and make room for new blood and new ideas?” my answer is that they ARE leaving – and it’s the more qualified ones that are able to go – the ones with degrees in their subject matter, or the experienced, talented veterans that can take their skills and apply them in new environments. Many who are looking are either inexperienced or were let go for a reason – do you really consider them to be “FAR MORE” qualified? Many also have degrees in over-saturated fields while there are still openings in math, science, foreign language, and special ed, so your assertion rings somewhat false.
GwinnettParentz
July 3rd, 2012
5:17 pm
@CCMST: Goodbye and good riddance. And good luck to them in the real world where salaries only match productivity.
NTLB
July 3rd, 2012
5:47 pm
@GwinnetParentz–WHERE are the qualified teacher that you are talking about candidates AT?
Teacher2
July 3rd, 2012
5:52 pm
GwinnettParentz + Solutions + Good Mother = Blog Troll
Former Educator
July 3rd, 2012
6:25 pm
@Prof 2:08pm: GSU’s own website notes in November 2009: “Therefore, the board approved six mandatory furlough days for faculty and staff. This will affect all 40,000 USG employees, except the lowest paid (annual salary of $23,660 or lower), and is the equivalent of up to a three percent pay cut. These six furlough days will be implemented over the remainder of the FY10 fiscal year, but will, according to Davis, not affect classes or employee retirement plans.”
history teacher
July 3rd, 2012
6:30 pm
@Sam,,,,,,, We are paid for 10 months and they take that and spread it over a 12 month period. I love teaching and I am very fortunate to be in a good system that is fiscally sound(never had a furlough day) in middle Georgia. However it annoys me when I hear the comments about paid summer breaks. Even though I am only paid for ten months I have no free summer vacation. In the two months that I am not being paid for I have being working with students who did not pass the GHSGT, I have completed three days of department chair workshops. In the next month I will revise lesson plans, go to the school and get my room organized because we will be in meetings during preplanning. I also need to go to school and work in the book room (than has no air conditioning) before school starts. I have also responded to about 25 emails and that many phone calls from students with questions over their summer assignments. I also have conferences with parents every time I go to town to any store in our county. Because I am a twenty five year veteran, I have not had a step raise or a cost of living raise in 6 years, my insurance has almost doubled and the State of Georgia decided to no longer their contract with me for my National Board certification. My check is $750 dollars less than it was 6 years ago and I have started working as an adjunct at a local college to make up for the lost wages. I love teaching and I am very fortunate to have a job in a great county, However I really resent people making comments about what teachers do when they have no clue. Come spend some time with us and then no one will talk about those overpaid teachers with paid summer break.
Beverly Fraud
July 3rd, 2012
6:56 pm
Why must we put up with their constant whining?
Easy. Because it’s NOT the “we” who is important. It is the STUDENTS who have to put up with the bad LEARNING conditions, brought about not merely by bad teaching, but mainly by bad teaching CONDITIONS.
If you think the free market is the solution, FINE. Who can blame you? But if that’s the case, blame the SYSTEM not the individual teacher.
It’s not about the teachers; it’s about the STUDENTS.
CCMST
July 3rd, 2012
7:31 pm
@GoodMother – While I appreciate your comments about many places “doing more with less,” please tell me that your statement, “When I am sick, there is no substitute employee to fill in for me” is stating a situation that most people have, and NOT a snide comment alluding to teachers’ needing subs when they are out.
It is NOT easy to prepare for a sub – like many in and out of education, I will go to work if I am slightly under the weather (and not contagious). Luckily for me, I am rarely sick. More often my infrequent absences are planned in advance. I typically arrange for a sub that I know (nothing worse than leaving your room in unknown hands). I leave very detailed plans that fit with our unit, and everything I leave counts and is graded. It’s a lot of work.
Now, please realize – the sub isn’t there for me – the sub is there for the students. And if there should happen to be no sub (which happens pretty frequently at a school like mine), then one of two things happen. One option is to have other teachers take students into their classroom. The other is to have other teachers give up their planning to cover the class (for no extra pay, although in a lot of unionized systems, the teachers are compensated for the extra work). This is an absolute worst-case scenario because no one wants to feel like they’ve put their colleagues in a bad position.
@GwinnetParentz – the above is not a whine – it’s describing a very real situation that occurs in schools. I am letting Good Mother know that just because we can get a sub, it doesn’t mean our work load is lessened…kind of like the real world. And, BTW, when I was in college, I worked at a temp agency over the summer. My most most frequent assignments? Covering for receptionists and secretaries while they were on vacation…sounds kind of like subbing, eh? When I was in high school, and I worked at McDonald’s (my very first job and one I was proud of), I would take extra shifts covering for people who were sicks…kind of like…SUBBING! My point? While it doesn’t work for every job, it’s not unheard of in the “real” world. Unheard of in teaching? Lunch hours, flex time, telecommuting, and going to the bathroom when you want, lol.
Lastly @GwinettParentz – “Goodbye and good riddance.” ?? I’m sure those that are leaving would like to say the same to some of their “parentz.”
And “And good luck to them in the real world where salaries only match productivity.” Most will likely thrive, seeing as how their productivity will be based on their performance, and not that of a whimsical 6 year old or hormonal 14 year old.
Lee
July 3rd, 2012
7:55 pm
“Are school budget cuts leaving teachers overstressed, overburdened, and overwhelmed?”
Probably. Just like shutting down factories and moving them overseas, outsourcing jobs to India, and downsizing everything else has the American worker overstressed, overburdened, and overwhelmed.
It’s tough all over.
—————————-
58 years ago, the government decided to use public schools to enact social policy. They didn’t care about the children who had to ride the bus for hours or attend schools in a hostile environment. They didn’t care about the wishes of the parents or taxpayers.
The government didn’t care in the 70s when they decided to move the mentally disabled student into the same classroom with the regular ed students – costs be damned.
They didn’t care about the taxpayers and law abiding citizens when they decided it would be great fun to educate millions of illegal aliens.
That said, do you think they really care if a teacher misses a few days pay because of furloughs or that they have a few more students in class?
Nope, I didn’t think so either….
crankee-yankee
July 3rd, 2012
8:00 pm
Just Sayin’
July 3rd, 2012
1:40 pm
You have to forgive SOLUTIONS. Engineers have been trained in a field that requires stringent adherence to the parameters they work within. They are a rare breed, I know, I was so trained at RPI. With as many restrictions as they have to operate under it is easy to understand the mindset that there is a best way to do something, and in many cases, that is true, when is comes to inanimate or non-thinking machines/structures. What they can have a hard time dealing with is the human factor, which is what education is all about.
Prof
July 3rd, 2012
9:19 pm
@ Former Educator. Both of us are right, and both of us are wrong about GSU furlough days in 2010.
You are right about the exemption of employees with salaries under $23K a year. But I am right about the number of furlough days. GSU had 8 in 2010, not 6 as the Regents decreed.
As GSU’s website stated on Nov. 2009: “Eight is a larger number of furlough days than the Regents mandated. Why do GSU employees have to take two additional furlough days? The University decided to take additional furlough days to help meet its targeted budget reduction in order to minimize the impact of services to students and to minimize the number of reductions in force.”
More plainly, President Becker decided to give everyone more furlough days (and himself and the other higher administration even more than eight) because he didn’t want to fire any staff members… 155 is the number I remember.
I’m going into all this to point out that the administrators ALSO took furlough days (12!), unlike the public K-12 schools. It did wonders for GSU morale.
bootney farnsworth
July 3rd, 2012
9:37 pm
stop feeding the damn troll!
Anonmom
July 3rd, 2012
9:38 pm
Where are the forensic audits looking to see what has happened to all the money? Who is looking at hte money being wasted in administratve costs? The worst thing that has recently happened to GA education is the doing away with Gov. Barnes’ size caps — that forced dollars into the clasrooms and out of administration. The bloat and corruption is still there — the systems are taking it out on the teachers and the classroom becuse they don’t have a loud enough, and strong enough voice — I really believe that the money is in the bloat and the money that has “walked” trough corruption (at least in DCSS) and the lack of any checks and balances is to blame. Who wants a child in a classroom with teachers who are being so crunched? I really don’t blame the teachers. I’m a professional. I get to go to the doctor and the bathroom and lunch whenever I want … they don’t. They have no control over the kids who land in their class and then are told that their careers hinge on the “outcomes” they achieve by year end — even though they can’t boot the kid out if there are behaviour problems or if they are 3 or 4 years behind when they start and then to make it all worse — they have no budget for supplies or training; no control over curriculum and classe stuffed to the max. The best teachers in the world are going to have trouble under these conditions.
Anonmom
July 3rd, 2012
9:41 pm
and just to reiterate — I think we are going to really pay as a society as these kids, who are not able to learn and who do not gain any skills with which to find employment ultimately wind up on the streets and in jail — aren’t they allowing Imans and such in the jails to work with them (okay not politically correct but I believe true) — and on welfare — take a look at France and at Scandanavia — what happens when tens of thousands of these kids become all grown up and have no place to go but jail and welfare. Now, add to that a component of conversions ala some of the countries in Europe and the Middle East…. What have we then? Wouldn’t it make so much more sense to change this failing system altogether and get these kids skills and an education so they come out employable — either at 15 or 22 depending on skills and interest and ability.
Anonmom
July 3rd, 2012
9:45 pm
Think about these comments in light of July 4th — We are a nation that was founded with liberty and justice for all and the opportunity for life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. States rights. It was not about a strong federal government. Liberty. Freddom. Independence. Where, exactly, are we going to be in 20 years? We’ve surrendered so much over the past 15 years and much more of our liberty is on the chopping block. Take a look at life under the Soviet Union. Listen to the guy’s story who just fled China. Talk to someone whose family fled Cuba or Nazi Germany — they are alive and around today. Life as an American is something awesome and worth protecting. It’s special here. At least it has been.
bootney farnsworth
July 3rd, 2012
9:45 pm
@ Anonmom
I’m still waiting for somebody somewhere (cue AJC, cue GBI) to do the math and figure out what we all know. the whole system is broken- statewide. the odds against almost every system in the state being in trouble at one time is incredible.
Fred in DeKalb
July 3rd, 2012
9:53 pm
Amen Anonmom! I tried pointing our similar concerns on DSW and was told that point of view was not welcome. We should focus more on workable solutions rather than merely whining and making accusations, especially when one does not understand the many complicated laws behind education.
Tax Payer and Teacher
July 3rd, 2012
10:22 pm
@Solutions and GwinnettParentz-Many of us came from corporate (The Real World) to make a difference. Well now that we’ve made a difference and haven’t received compensation, we’re going back to corporate so that we can make a difference by paying our mortgages on time. What you don’t understand is that we have degrees in technology, engineering and business as well. Although we enjoy teaching, with my degrees and skill set I can easily transition to the real world as a corporate trainer. I have knowledge and experience in the following areas and software: (Adobe Suite) Visio, MS Project, Microsoft Office Suite along with Business Analysis, Presentation Preparation and Delivery, Charting and Documenting Web Architecture, Database Building, Proposal Writing and Technical Writing. So, don’t get it twisted, I can find another job. Teaching is a career and I intend to continue to teach but at the rate these cuts are going, I think it’s time I put my resume out on Career Builder and Computerjobs. com. And to further emphasize the point, many of my colleagues are either looking or have found other jobs and will not be returning next school year. So, there will be plenty of openings for your new teacher employees. They won’t last a semester. By the time those off the wall urban dwellers get through calling them everything but a child of God, they will be out of the door, running and never looking back. I have heard stories of subs so distraught they left the class in the middle of the day. Oh, but that’s a great opportunity for you to get your foot in the door Solutions! You can be the parent on call and substitute when all of the GREAT teachers have returned to Corporate America!
Good Mother
July 4th, 2012
7:36 am
Nwga says “Many of the teachers I know would like to leave the profession. Working conditions are ridiculous.”
Seriously, then WHY are they still in the profession?
My educated guess is that because they can find no other job that pays them as much and offers them as much benefits and time off work.
Many teachers think private schools are so much better becuse the quality of the student is better …but…
over and again it is proven that private school teachers make less salary and have less benefits, even at expensive private schools.
Teachers vote with their feet.
If their feet stay in the public school, it is because they CHOSE to stay. No one is forcing a teacher to stay a teacher.
If you don’t like teaching — leave. It’s best for everyone, especially the kids.
Good Mother
July 4th, 2012
7:40 am
Anonmom says “I get to go to the doctor and the bathroom and lunch whenever I want … they don’t.”
Uh. I don’t.
I don’t know what kind of dream job you have but at my office I get to take my unpaid vacation whenever the client allows me to — it’s up to his schedule, not my choice and I don’t have all Summer, two weeks at XMAS, a week of t-giVING AND other times off work to schedule appointments — and I’m AWORKING on a holiday today, the fourth of july.
Teacher2
July 4th, 2012
7:41 am
@Tax Payer and Teacher
Solutions has no intentions of ever being informed on the educational issues by entering a actual classroom. He probably believes that becoming a teacher would be beneath him. It also seems that he would prefer for GREAT teachers to leave the classroom, likely to prove his warped ideology and the “failings” of public schools.
I love teaching. I hate what it is becoming...
July 4th, 2012
5:46 pm
@GM “Seriously, then WHY are they still in the profession?
My educated guess is that because they can find no other job that pays them as much and offers them as much benefits and time off work.”
Actually, the good ones can quite easily find jobs that pay them much more – but for teacher with young children, the hours are very helpful, so you may be right about some teachers, but you are completely wrong about why I stay, and why many of the teachers I work with stay…. we stay because the reasons we chose this field as just as valid now as when we started. In fact, thanks to the ever increasing focus on testing and data, those reasons have become even MORE important. We chose teaching as a profession because we wanted to make a positive difference in the lives of children. We wanted to nurture the future. We believe in making the world a better place for every child and helping them reach their full potential.
The problem is, that positive change in the lives of our students is starting to take a back seat to all the other crap we are having to do which is eating up more and more of our time. And it won’t matter if we leave – any teacher who replaces us is going to have the same difficulties. It is not that we don’t like “teaching” – we LOVE teaching – but these days, the majority of what I do has nothing to do with true “teaching” and everything to do with jumping through meaningless, ever more burdensome hoops in order to appease some paper pusher, profiteer, bean counter or snake oil salesman!
I stay for the children. I also stay because I have invested years learning my craft, and I am dang good at it. Seems a shame to throw that away…but it gets more tempting every year.
Archie
July 4th, 2012
8:03 pm
@The Midsouth Philosopher: Interesting observation! Here’s one by a science fiction writer who made his transition from this earthly plane, recently. It goes like this: “You don’t have to burn books to destroy a culture, just get people to stop reading them.” -Ray Bradbury
bilbo799
July 4th, 2012
9:19 pm
Some of these comments have gotten a little bit off topic. The blog post asks whether teachers are overstressed, overburdened, and overwhelmed. The question is framed in relativist terms — to be overstressed, for example, a teacher must be stressed beyond the norm.
My thought is that teachers are no more stressed, burdened, or overwhelmed than any other profession. There are plenty of more and less demanding jobs. There are also plenty of other professions that offer fair and unfair compensation. I find absolutely nothing remarkable about how stressed, burdened, or overwhelmed teachers are relative to other people. Prove me wrong.
Jordan Kohanim
July 5th, 2012
9:05 am
How exactly does one “prove” or “disprove” against a relativist term? I think the question is meant to evoke response, which it has gotten. One can not “prove” such theories and subjectivity.
One can, however, measure the impact. The impact in this scenario as that teacher morale is at the lowest it has been in decades, the economic crisis has hit teachers harder than any other level of educational occupation, and that students’ learning environments are thus impacted. I guess the questions that needs to be answered (not “proved,” ) is what is the lasting impact of all of the reforms? Forcing classrooms to become the place a panicked budget-cuts and mind-numbing data-gathering will affect the students.
another aps teacher
July 7th, 2012
11:07 am
Solutions: Such hate and nastiness! Who peed in your soup, for you to have such a poor attitude about teachers? Most career teachers are called to teach. We do it because it is who we are. Notice I didn’t say career educators, I said career teachers. Some of us actually enjoy being in the school building with the children. Yes, it is a difficult job, even when you have lovely working conditions like a building that doesn’t leak, has the same indoor climate controlled temperature throughout, enough toilet tissue for the students and the teachers, an on site clinic for the on site nurse, and a budget that allows for essential classroom supplies like board paper, dry erase markers, and bulletin board bordette. Oh, I forgot: enough computers for your class load, ink cartridges, copy and printer paper, file folders for student portfolios, desks and chairs, overhead transparencies, and vis a vis markers. When budgets are cut and we get more students we generally don’t have enough supplies to meet the needs of all of our students. And believe me, our k-12 students are not like your college students, especially your immigrant college students. Your students are much more motivated, much more grateful for their opportunities, and much more prepared. That’s okay, we signed up for our clientele and we should be prepared for them when they arrive even if they are three-four grades below level, were born addicted to crack, are the children of active addicts, have MAJOR health, behavior and psychological issues (and sometimes psychiatric) and their parents will not take them to get evaluated or will not keep their prescriptions filled, and they don’t have winter coats. If you work on the southern end of APS you get to deal with this, in addition to having a building that leaks, has mold, an antiquated HVAC system, runs out of toilet tissue on the regular, has no supplies, AND the state cuts your budget to the point where your class load goes from 22 to 30 of these babies. That’s 32 additional children with no additional resources. I think any one who wants to do a good job would be concerned about having to educate children under these conditions.
Another point or two: I have a Master’s from Georgia Tech. And if I worked 250 days instead of 191 my salary would be $21,000+ higher.
Lovestoteach
July 8th, 2012
6:38 am
Everyone’s hurting these days. I’m a teacher and I’m not going to complain. What good will it do? The fact is that I feel fortunate compared to what my students and their families are facing.
Hey, don’t pick on teachers — pick on whiners, whatever their profession!
Good Mother
July 8th, 2012
11:48 am
Best COmment all year goes to Lovestoteach “Hey, don’t pick on teachers — pick on whiners, whatever their profession!”
AMEN!
MB
July 8th, 2012
1:41 pm
Keep an eye on the State Education Finance Study Commission to see how education funding will be moving in Georgia (The DOE site isn’t updated, but gives some insight into the process.) http://www.gadoe.org/Finance-and-Business-Operations/Financial-Review/Pages/State-Education-Finance-Study-Commission.aspx
Their subcommittee meetings are public; try to attend at least one – and prepare to be amazed!
N. GA Teacher
July 9th, 2012
12:39 am
I never cease to be amazed at the non-teacher bloggers who have no sympathy or even hostility towards teachers. I am a teacher and if I were to read a blog about accountants, engineers, doctors, or corporate managers I would take the experienced word of the workers. One of the great opportunities nonteachers have is to spend time as substitute teachers, parent volunteers or just observers in classrooms. I would hope that the other professions would welcome us into their boardrooms, clinics or client meetings (but I doubt it) so we can understand how tough THEIR days are. One aspect of teaching, I think, that is not mirrored by the other professions, is that working conditions have very much changed since the baby boomers were in K-12, as mentioned by another blogger on this page. I think most other professions will say that working conditions/situations have improved for them, but talk with almost any teacher with over 20 years experience and you will find tht is not usually the case for teachers.
Fed Up Teacher
July 9th, 2012
10:47 am
Here is the biggest problem I see. Instead of working together as members of a state that needs to fix it’s education system, we are sitting here, sniping at each other, not coming up with solutions, demanding that more is done by our local and state leaders, etc. Most of the identified teachers on this blog are trying to make a difference by telling you what the issues are. What about the rest of you? The ones who call us whiners. Instead of talking crap, come and help us do something about it. Teachers who look like they are just complaining. Have you asked more of GAE, PAGE, and the like? I am sure you have. It would be stupid not to.
I am a teacher, a proud one at that, who has been laid off twice due to budget cuts, suffered severe health issues due to working conditions, been ridiculed, but has also come to love their students, see positive changes in the few that I have been able to teach, and has 12, count them, 12 certifications and a Master’s degree.
My main subject is Social Studies, and I have taught my students to make a difference when they see injustice, not to just sit there and complain. I have tried to do that, and it has cost me my job. We need to work together, teachers and non-teachers, to help our children in this state. I am proud to come from the public school system of Georgia. My school system did not have a lot of money. I had wonderful teachers who tried and still are trying, who influenced some of my classmates to return to those schools as teachers, who have helped make me who I am. I cannot give up on a system that I was a product of. I can try to fix it so that all students have good experience and get a fair shot.
Quit the negative rhetoric. Quit the hate speech. We should be marching on the Capitol. We should demand more. Enough!!!
Fed Up Teacher
July 9th, 2012
10:49 am
P.S. I am a fed up teacher because I am fed up with the teachers and students are being undermined, cheated, abused, etc. by lawmakers and other leaders in this state. I will not abandon this ship though. I have been called to be a teacher, and I will not let go of that call.