Annual paid teacher leave: Average is 13.6 days for veterans. Fulton gives teachers 20 days.
Of Georgia's largest systems, Fulton offers the most teacher leave, according to a new study. (AP Images)
The print AJC offered several provocative education stories over the past few days, including one on the paid leave afforded teachers in large school districts.
The story was based on a new report from the National Council on Teacher Quality, which noted wide differences nationwide in leave policies and amounts. (Before commenting, please try to read the report as it explains in detail how leave is defined.)
Who provides the least teacher leave? According to the report:
Of the 26 districts which offer 10 or fewer days of general leave, nine are located in Florida. California, Louisiana, and Texas each have four districts with relatively little leave.
The TR3 district with the least amount of general leave is Desoto County, Mississippi, which only gives teachers 9 days.Teachers working for the DeSoto County (Miss.) school system get the fewest days — nine.
Who gives the most leave? The report says:
“While Newark offers a small number of its teachers the most leave of any school district (25+ years of experience), Hartford, Connecticut offers all of its teachers 25 days of general leave each year (equivalent to five weeks, or 13 percent, of the school year). Twenty of those days are classified as sick leave but 5 can be used for personal reasons; teachers then get an additional 5 personal days after they’ve used all of their sick leave, effectively blurring any distinction between the two types of leave.
Two other districts offer general leave that adds up to 13 percent of the days teachers work each year: Toledo and Burlington, Vermont. In both of these districts, teachers get 24 days of general leave each year.
The AJC story looked at leave in the largest Georgia districts:
Fulton County is far and away the best place to work if you’re a metro Atlanta teacher looking for the most days off a year. Fulton teachers with 10 or more years’ experience receive 20 general leave days a year, which is among the most in the nation, according to a survey by the Washington-based National Council on Teacher Quality, which ranked 113 school systems nationwide.
By contrast, Atlanta Public Schools, DeKalb County and Gwinnett County teachers get only 12.5 general leave days a year. Of the core metro counties, Cobb County offers the fewest (11.9). In Fulton, even teachers with less than 10 years’ experience get 15 general leave days a year.
General leave includes sick days and personal days off, according to the study.
Teachers already work fewer days per year — about 185 — than employees in other professions, who average about 230 work days a year. National Council on Teacher Quality president Kate Walsh said that although public schools have cut budgets in recent years, few if any have cut days off. That’s not a political battle a superintendent wants to fight, ” she said.
I called Fulton County to verify its leave policy and to make sure the numbers in the report were correct. I received this response:
The numbers are accurate. State law requires 12.5 days and we go beyond that by 2.5 days (15 days maximum) for employees with less than 10 years of service. And 20 days maximum for employees with more than 10 years of service. This leave is district policy, approved by the Fulton County School Board. As with all policies, this policy will be reviewed routinely to consider any need for adjustment.
–From Maureen Downey, for the AJC Get Schooled blog
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85 comments Add your comment
LD
September 4th, 2012
3:11 pm
If state law is 12.5 days, how is Cobb only offering 11.9?
Maureen Downey
September 4th, 2012
3:12 pm
@Ld, Trying to get that clarified myself.
Maureen
teacher&mom
September 4th, 2012
3:29 pm
GA does not offer paid maternity leave for teachers. I wonder if any other states offer paid maternity leave for teachers.
Ex- Teacher
September 4th, 2012
3:30 pm
Right? Try using them, the principal denies them and you get your pay docked. Save them and Henry county offers you 15 dollars a day to buy them back. 78 days worth less then 800 bucks after taxes. Glad I left the field
mrchtaylor
September 4th, 2012
3:37 pm
Important to note that teachers only get paid for their contracted days. They receive no pay for weekends, holidays or summer. I would imagine that many have never taken anywhere near the number of days allowed. I have 105 days of unused leave, accumulated over 17 years of teaching
Van Jones
September 4th, 2012
3:42 pm
Fulton: 185 days per year and 3 weeks vacation, to start??? Holy property taxes, Batman.
ABC
September 4th, 2012
3:44 pm
I don’t understand why they need so much. I sorta get “sick days”, since well..we all get sick. But why do you need “leave”? You get many many many more days off than everyone else that works in the private sector.
Ex- Teacher
September 4th, 2012
3:46 pm
Here it comes: I can’t understand why they need so much time off…..it’s so easy……I wish I had every holiday off……
Step 1 pass college
2 pass test
3 have at it
mrchtaylor
September 4th, 2012
3:46 pm
Once again, teachers don’t get paid for all those “days off”. I would love to sell my accursed leave back to the system, as is allowed in many for profit industries.
Don
September 4th, 2012
3:47 pm
Kids tend to carry colds and flu and all kids of stuff. So duh, teachers need sick days. Also, try going to the doc only on weekends. Good luck with that.
Ex- Teacher
September 4th, 2012
3:51 pm
Taylor props to you. I only survived 10 yrs.
I am waiting for the union is killing are system in 3 2 1 …
hildymac
September 4th, 2012
3:54 pm
I took my first personal day in three years last October, and I’m otherwise only absent when I am legit sick. Unfortunately, that tends to happen a bit.
When parents stop sending children to school sick because they’re scared the kids’ll miss something is when sick days for teachers should drop off. Being around 90 teenagers every day in one room, ten of whom are there ill, is going to cause someone else in that classroom to come down with something. Chances are good it’s the teacher.
Trust me, most of us don’t want to miss work. It’s more trouble than it’s worth.
ajones
September 4th, 2012
4:14 pm
with very little research, I found average pay per working day for teacher in Ga. $189.00
average pay per working day for other degreed professions in Ga. $314.00
sloboffthestreet
September 4th, 2012
4:42 pm
mrchtaylor
Why not tell all the nice people what you get to do with those 105 days you have accumulated? You make it sound like it’s a bad thing?
As for you and the rest of the whiners, guess what folks, no one else gets paid for weekends they don’t work. Your contract argument makes you sound like an ignorant idiot but that is another post that needs to be addressed as to your mental fitness to be allowed to teach our children.
Please, all teachers, take your annual salary and divide by the number of days worked and post the amount you earn for each day you work here on the “GET SCHOOLED” blog so we can “GET SCHOOLED.” Please no “I work 15 hours a day crap.” Just the facts. $$Dollars Per Day Worked$$ And when calculating your per day pay please subtract your sick and personal days from days worked per year. You know why, don’t you? Here is a clue. You don’t work those days and they get banked for when you leave! No cheating please. What am I saying. Teachers would never ever cheat. Would they?
Then explain your sick and personal days and benefits. Yes we want to hear about your medical and retirement too!!
Apple Teacher
September 4th, 2012
4:48 pm
Leave is not vacation. There are many restrictors about when you can take a personal day. Most of the days are designated as sick days. I would be interested in average days actually used. I have been teaching for over twenty years and rarely use more than three days total of leave–sick and personal combined. There is a cap on what you can accumulate, and compensation at retirement for unused leave that is allowed to accumulate is very minimal. It seems people are always looking to portray teachers as negatively as possible. As in any profession, there are always those who will abuse sick leave.
sloboffthestreet
September 4th, 2012
4:55 pm
ajones
With the average salary for a teacher in Georgia being @ $50,000 and using the 185 days reported as the work year, please subtract the 14 days given for sick and personal days and this leaves you 171 days worked. Now I am not a teacher so perhaps my math isn’t as good as yours but I calculate the average daily pay before benefits to be $292.40 per day. Perhaps you are using some of the “NEW MATH” we have heard about over the years? If we use the entire 185 days for the calculation it still gives you over $270 per day. Don’t forget to add in the amount the taxpayers pay into your retirement. Health care also! Fair is fair and crybabies are always crybabies. So grow up and get to work and please do it right.
JEM
September 4th, 2012
5:03 pm
In Dekalb and Clayton where I have worked, we received sick days of which two are personal leave days. If we were out more than three days, we had to give a doctors excuse. I only was out a few days and had 150 sick days left when I retired. Some teachers do misuse this, but generally people are responsible. When people in business are sick, do they get their pay docked. Teachers are on salary just as are other professions. Sloboggythestreet you more than likely had teachers you didn’t like and you probably had difficulty learning. Therefore you have such negative view on teachers. So sorry that the best teachers weren’t there to help you.
Dr. Monica Henson
September 4th, 2012
5:06 pm
The average teacher salary in Georgia is closer to $52K. Leave days are paid and are included in the 190 days that most district teacher contracts are for. This amounts to $273.68 per day.
JEM
September 4th, 2012
5:10 pm
Dr. Henson, the 190 are the actual days the staff is at the school.
Ron F.
September 4th, 2012
5:23 pm
Geez- here we go having at the teachers…again. We get paid for contracted days ONLY. Yes we have paid sick leave days, but in most systems if you use more than 5, they require a doctor’s note or the dock your pay. You have them but you can’t use them unless you have a dire medical emergency (and most places don’t consider a sick child or immediate family member dire). We get no paid maternity leave- you use your sick days up and come back to work. We are harrassed if we use the days, which is why most teachers bank them.
How about the AJC follow this up with stats on how many days teachers typically miss a year? I guarantee you the average will be a LOT less than the days given. Those numbers and this entire article fail to tell that side of the story. I’ve never counted my sick leave days because they’re worthless unless I end up with a medical condition that requires their use. We had a teacher last year who did, and he finally had to get a lawyer involved to be able to use his sick leave time. The school kept calling trying to get him to resign. He finally returned to work when the doctor released him- what else was he supposed to do?
As to the “average” teacher salary, that includes administrators who make significantly more than a classroom teacher. Do the REAL math, and you’ll find it isn’t as cushy as you think. I guess when the whole system is charter or private schools and you can’t get good teachers because the benefits suck, you’ll have a real problem to solve. I’m getting out as soon as I can reasonably because I’m sick and tired of being trashed, yet again, for being a devoted teacher who has been, for many years, willing to work ungodly hours for pay that typically is less than I could make in a job I don’t like, and yet we’re attacked for one benefit we rarely can use. Have fun folks. You’re slowly but surely running us off and God help you replace us…
Dr. Henson: how many day do you get per year and at what rate if I may ask? Since you’re so determined to get the figures right, share your own please.
Ben B
September 4th, 2012
5:32 pm
Leave should not be accumulated. It is either “use it or lose it.”
Ron F.
September 4th, 2012
5:34 pm
According to a quick search, the average days taken off for teachers is about 8 sick days per year, and for the population as a whole, it’s about 8.5. So, it obviously doesn’t make a hill of beans difference how many days we’re “given”, we evidently don’t use any more of them than a typical worker. Quite frankly, I’ve worked sick because it’s less trouble than trying to plan engaging, meaningful lessons for kids if I’m not there. The only time I’ve take more than 1 or 2 in a year is when my mom died. Even when my dad had open heart surgery, I went to work because it was too much trouble and I felt guilty about NOT being at school.
Middle Georgia Teacher
September 4th, 2012
5:41 pm
My school district gives us the 12.5 days per year, with 9 of those for sick days and 3 for personal days. MOST teachers that I know do NOT take very many days off, however. We aren’t paid for maternity leave, so a lot of younger female teachers usually try to avoid taking time off so that they could bank days for maternity leave. I certainly had to! Everyone gets sick once in a while, but most of us who do use sick days take them because we have to be out with our own sick kids. Also, like one poster already noted, we, too, have to go to the doctor once in a while, and these visits cannot always be planned for after school time. I don’t call in sick unless I am sick, or one of my children is sick. We need personal leave (only 3 per year for me) when we have to be out for reasons other than being sick or going to the doctor. In fact, we have been told that if we lie about our reason for being sick, then we could get fired for failing the ethical clause in our code of conduct. So, since my daughter is a senior this year, when she uses her college visitation day, a day that won’t count against her attendance, I will be using a personal day to go with her.
Dr. Monica Henson
September 4th, 2012
5:57 pm
Ron, I am under contract for 250 days per year at $115,000 annual salary, which is commensurate for an experienced superintendent who holds a doctorate in a small public school district . My contract includes ten days’ paid vacation and two personal days. No chauffeurs or housing allowances for this old schoolmarm, or extra retirement annuities. That comes out to $460 a day. My last year in the classroom, I earned $60,000 a year as a 190-day employee, which came out to $315.79 per day, in Massachusetts. That was with a master’s degree and National Board Certification plus 11 years’ classroom experience.
The figure I cited for average teacher salaries was from teacherportal.com and doesn’t account for administrator salaries, which are considerably higher than teacher salaries, especially in metropolitan districts. teachersalaryinfo.com cites the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics in reporting that “the 2009 average teacher salary in Georgia was $51,050. This figure represents a 5.43 percent increase over the previous year’s average salary of $48,420. This makes Georgia teacher salaries slightly higher than the national average for teacher salaries, which was $49,720 in 2009 and $48,353 in 2008. The average teacher salary in Georgia has been steadily rising for the last several years. In 2007, teacher salaries in Georgia were $46,900 before increasing by 3.24 percent the following year.”
Dr. Monica Henson
September 4th, 2012
6:01 pm
I do have to say this–I love my work. Larry King once said that he’d do his job whether he earned $20,000 a year or $20 million. I feel just like that. I have to force myself to take time off because I love what I do. I felt the same way as a beginning teacher earning $18K a year back when the earth was cooling.
And I remember feeling rich beyond measure when I hit $35K by my 35th birthday, when I became a high school department chair.
I love teaching. I hate what it is becoming...
September 4th, 2012
6:02 pm
@Dr. Henson “The average teacher salary in Georgia is closer to $52K.”
This is always a shock for me, because I make less than that with 22 years in and a Master’s. I guess my district does not pay very well….or your figures factor in pay for adminstrators, which may skew the results.
Personally, I hate taking days off because it really isn’t worth it when you consider the time it takes to plan for it. I get TWO personal days, which may be used for anything I choose (which usually means waiting for the repair man or taking my car in) and 10 sick days (of which I earn one every few weeks.) If I take a sick day and am not really sick, and get caught out shopping or something, I could lose my job – so they really are SICK days. I took my first sick day in 10 years last year. I started throwing up at work… usually I just soldier through rather than trying to make sub plans. I personally do not know of ANY teachers who abuse alloted days, though there likely are some out there.
Atlanta Mom
September 4th, 2012
6:03 pm
I must admit, I’m surprised that teachers don’t get paid maternity leave. Seems like if there was ever a profession that deserved it!
I’d give teachers at least 10 sick days a year. I hated it when my children went back to school, because we all got sick. On that note, I kept mine home when they were sick.
William Casey
September 4th, 2012
6:05 pm
HEY SLOBBO: I haven’t seen you in awhile! Yup, you got me! I drew pay for 31 years and guess what? I didn’t actually work a single day. That’s right! Not one SINGLE day. Just goofed off even when I bothered to show up. That’s right, Slobborino, I STOLE all that money from hard-working taxpayers like you. BTW– I didn’t pay any taxes either! Now, don’t you feel better!
William Casey
September 4th, 2012
6:08 pm
I retired with 125+ days of unused leave. I don’t think I got a “thank you” for that. Oh, well.
Ex- Teacher
September 4th, 2012
6:08 pm
I repeat: step 1 pass college
2 pass test
3 have at it…. And start at the bottom…38500 Henry co
Dr. Monica Henson
September 4th, 2012
6:12 pm
JEM, you are correct that 190 days includes the days teachers are at school. There are 180 instructional days in a typical district school year, and teachers are usually paid for 10 additional days to cover pre- and post-planning.
Dr. Monica Henson
September 4th, 2012
6:19 pm
The National Center for Education Statistics cites the average Georgia principals’ salary, with ten+ years experience, as $87,400. Administrators are generally on a 230-day contract, so that would be $380 per day.
“The average salary for superintendents nationwide for the 2010-2011 school year was $161,992, according to Educational Research Survey’s 38th national survey, ‘Salaries and Wages Paid Professional and Support Personnel in Public Schools 2010-2011.’ Salaries of more than $225,000 were seen in districts with enrollment levels of more than 25,000 students, the salary survey states.”
Bernie
September 4th, 2012
6:31 pm
We should be paying ALL of Our Teachers More and with more Benefits, if we were SMART!
However, our current value system places much more value on Athletes and Entertainers.
Time will tell which was the better and smarter Value! You can count on that one!
Dr. Monica Henson
September 4th, 2012
6:31 pm
Atlanta Mom, teachers use sick time and short-term disability leave for maternity leave. Many teachers try to time their due dates to fall near long breaks such as the winter holiday or summer vacation to maximize their maternity leave.
Meredith
September 4th, 2012
6:32 pm
Masters and 20 years experience. I make around 30 bucks an hour if and only if you count the time I am on the clock. HOWEVER….over labor day weekend a graded essays and papers for 15 hours. I spend 8 hours the weekend before that and on average 1 to 2 hours a night. Also, I arrive at the school at 30 mins early. I leave 1 hour late. I often eat my lunch while I am working. So…if you factor in the 7.5 hours a week. Add the 7.5 hours I work at home during a week, and conservatively the 8 hours I work each weekend, I work a 63 hour week…conservatively speaking. My 40 bucks an hour turns in to….let’s see let’s start with 40 times 30, so you can see what you that is 1200 bucks a week. Now take that 1200 dollars and divide it by 63. Very different number, huh? Sooooo…..seriously…shut it. By the way. Show me the average days teacher use of their sick leave. So….sick of explaining this to you jerks out there.think I make.
Old timer
September 4th, 2012
6:32 pm
I retired with over 200 sick days…I thank the Lord I was healthy and had my children in April and May and had time at home without using much sick leave.
Beenthere
September 4th, 2012
6:33 pm
My cousin teaches in Virginia. She says they have 30 subs in the building on Fridays for teachers taking long weekends. Seems that they don’t get to keep their sick leave when they retire. These teachers have accumulated large amounts of sick leave by guess what? showing up for work. So, Virginia, in their vast intelligence, is paying subs instead of rewarding teachers for being diligent employees.
Those of you who think teachers have it so cushy should stop by sometime and volunteer. We don’t quit at 3:00. We have papers to grade and lessons to write for the new common core standards. We don’t have text books, so we spend hours and our own dollars looking for materials to teach with.
RealWorldEducation
September 4th, 2012
6:40 pm
As a teacher with a masters and counting my experience, with furlough days, cut benefits and extended work hours (the county extended our workday by a few mins each day, adding up to an extra few days unpaid work a year) I am now making less than I did when I entered the private workforce after obtaining my undergraduate degree 10 years ago.
That average teacher salary is based on teachers with much more experience than most. Remember, the average experience level in a classroom is only a few years…because most leave after less than 4 years of low pay, lower respect and even lower future prospects for growth in the field.
Pride and Joy
September 4th, 2012
6:44 pm
I get zero paid days off. No holiday. No sick pay. No vacation days. No paid training time. If I show up to work and get something done, I get paid. That’s it. That’s life in the real world.
Another Math Teacher
September 4th, 2012
6:51 pm
sloboffthestreet : “Please, all teachers, take your annual salary and divide by the number of days worked and post the amount you earn for each day you work here on the “GET SCHOOLED” blog so we can “GET SCHOOLED.” Please no “I work 15 hours a day crap.” Just the facts.”
You should never, ever, rely on your math skills. Your skill is incredibly poor. (Remember when you couldn’t understand that being a magnet school, hosting the all of the smartest kids in the county, would skew the S.A.T. results?)
Here are some facts, for the factually challenged (that’s you:)
2350 hours worked. Pay of $50000. Here is the tough part, see if you can keep up because this is NEW Math!
$50000/2350 hours = $21.28/hour.
You do not get to tell people that they hours they work do not count. Facts do not work that way.
“Now I am not a teacher so perhaps my math isn’t as good as yours”
Understatement of the…well…all time.
Ms. Downey, can we have a story that addresses the past failures of the public educational system that specifically covers how the general public adult population can’t handle finding rate per time. Some of them even think it’s ‘NEW MATH.’
another comment
September 4th, 2012
6:56 pm
Alot of Private Sector folks think that government employees have it so good, but we really don’t. I worked in the Private Sector as an Engineer and for the Federal Government. Someone just brought up Maternity leave. Guess what the Federal Government provides their employees no paid maternity leave. Sure you earn sick leave at the rate or 4 hours per 2 week pay period, or 13 days per year, but that it takes a full 3 years to earn enough just to go on 1 average 6 week maternity leave. You better plan on working 4 years before you have a child, to allow for Maternity doctors visit that you will have to take to during your pregnancy. Even trying to schedule them around your 1/2 hour lunch, we all no you can never get in and out of an OB/GYN in less than 1.5 hours. You go at least every month in the first two weeks, then every other week, then every week, then it can be every other day near the end. Then the big dread of what will happen if you need a C-section, that is 8 weeks off or 4-5 years of working to earn it. Every working woman’s fincial nightmare in a State like Georgia, that does not require employers to provide short term disability, is that the doctor will put them on months of bedrest. ( New York and other state require short term disability and every woman in that state is covered for pregnancy, gets 60% pay). Most fortune 1000 companies offer paid maternity leave. It is taken for granted by a lot of Private Sector Employees.
Other things taken for granted by Privated Sector Employess, Large Bonuses. I am talking 10K, 25K, 100K, 250K, 100K and up. I would often hear my private sector friends with the same or lessor level equvialent positions that I ever had in the Federal Government nonchalently mention what they were doing with their upcoming bonus. Going to the boat show to pick out a nice little cabin cruiser that he had parked at lake lanier, had to make sure it had a head, so it would count for second home deduction. The boat had to be $60-80K. Another friend was going to use her bonus to pay her 3 children’s tuition at Woodward ( 3 x $22K = $66K) I was shocked that this was the funding source of the tuition. In the Federal Government most people got between 1-2% of their salary maximum, depending upon their bonus pool. I had one bonus pool that got $800-900 for Excellent performance with outsanding getting 1100 to 1,200. then the management pool got a little higher amount, because the salaries in the pool were higher, but they also tended not to have anyone in their pool getting satisfactory or unsatisfactory ( you did not stay in a management pool position which did not get a bonus payout if you got a 3 or less rating) Exellents got about $1,600 to 1800 and outstandings got $2,000 to 2,200. Certainly no where near my friends getting bonus of $60,000 and buying new boats and paying for 3 kids in a private school. Only the few SES, the Political Appointees got higher bonuses around $5k-10K generally though their have been some published cases of $25K or so. These are very very rare.
Company Cars are very common in the private sector. I had one or a several hundred dollar allowance in jobs I held while in the private sector. While working for the government you can not get a Company Car that you can use as your own. If you do it is illeagal. In the Private Sector people get $600 or so dollars all the time to put towards the lease of a vehicle of their choice per month.
Expense Accounts, your expense account can be used to enterain clients. As a federal employee I could entertain no one. I also could not accept any sports tickets or any meals, over $25. Best just skip it. In the private sector, I was taken to lunch 4/5 days by vendors. I also had to get all of my vendors, customers to donate money to the United Way. For Example, Sponser me in the Atlanta Walk a thon. I would go to every Hawks game and sit in the 3rd row from the court, I would get braves ticket, right behind the plate, Falcon’s tickets, all while working in the Private Sector. I could not accept any of these in the Federal Government.
My employer and myself pay over $1,000 per month for my Blue Cross and Blue Shield insurance policy that hardly pays anything on dental. Yet I see Walmart encouraging their employees to have their kids sign up for tax payer funded peachcare which is tax payer fundeded medicaid for thier children, for no more than $35 each. Their dental coverage on Peachcare covers everything. I sit their at the dentist just astonish at the lack of coverage that I get my great policy.
The list goes on.
fultonschoolsparent
September 4th, 2012
7:13 pm
I’d be interested in seeing what the university systems give the professors for leave? As for the public school teachers, they deserve every day they get. Too bad they can’t take them!
crankee-yankee
September 4th, 2012
7:19 pm
$68,887.16 for 190 days = $362.56/day
minus 2 furlough days so I will lose $725.12 in salary, I am the highest paid in my district in my department. So that is NOT indicative of an average salary. I am an outlier.
I have 560 hours (70 days) of leave accumulated over 16 years in this county.
The slob will rejoice over the fact I lost 68 days from a county I worked in previously because I was denied a leave transfer, within the state. I also lost 84 days when I moved to GA from up north and GA did not accept transfers on earned sick days from other states. So in 30+ years of teaching, I have “earned” over 300 leave days and not used 222 of them. That’s 2.6 days per year (actually less but I am being conservative to the employer’s side). I would have used significantly less were it not for my wife’s poor health.
As has been pointed out by many already, it is rarely worth the extra effort necessary to create meaningful, step-by-step sub plans for bogus sick (or what are euphemistically called “mental health”) days. It does not often occur in my building. When we take leave, it is because we need to and have no other choice (Dr/Dentist appt, sick family member needing our care, etc). Personal days (2/yr) are deducted from our sick days.
Sick days can be used (up to a certain #) to count towards retirement but I have been told that differs county to county, I do not know hard facts about the details (someone else know?) having not explored retirement yet. I have second-hand info that indicates it is better to use the days to offset retirement dates rather than have the county buy back unused days. They do not buy them at the regular sub rate (which is what is done in some northeastern states). The buy-back is supposed to be only dimes on the dollar but, again, I do not have hard facts.
NTLB
September 4th, 2012
7:23 pm
@Maureen—please don’t forget that in our teacher annual reviews, the amount of leave days we take, whether it be sick or personal, is also held accountable against us if we surpass the leave average of the district.
And the beat goes on...
September 4th, 2012
7:25 pm
There have been no state pay raises for teachers in several years. Here is what everyone needs to understand. A first-year teacher in a Georgia public school earns the same state pay regardless of where he or she is teaching. There is a state pay scale. All teachers will 20-plus year of experience and Masters or Specialist degrees earn the exact same state pay regardless of where they work. My county offers a county supplement of $1600 a year for a teacher with 20-plus years of experience with a Specialist degree. This teacher makes significantly less than teachers in most urban areas; however, my rural county has the 5th highest paid teachers in the state. Huh? Exactly. Our state average is the 5th highest (which isn’t the same thing as the 5th highest paid) because more than half of our teachers have been teaching for 20-plus years and have advanced degrees. Counties which give teachers supplements of 3-5 thousand dollars may still rank low in state average pay because these counties have more teachers with 15 years of experience or less and may not have advanced degrees. To suggest that the teachers in my rural county make more than teachers in Fulton County or any other urban county is ludicrous. This isn’t new math. This is basic statistics. All teachers with the same degrees and same number of years teaching earn from the state the exact same pay. Local supplements for extra duties or given as a thank you are what makes one teacher earn more than another.
mommamonster
September 4th, 2012
7:29 pm
Dr. Henson,
Cobb is only working 185 days this year with furlough days
Sissy
September 4th, 2012
7:29 pm
Today I nearly stepped into a puddle of pink vomit someone sprayed all over the floor. Think that happens in the business world? The mop/broom used to pick it up is used in other areas of the school. I went behind with Lysol I bought out of my own money (along with cleaning wipes, hand sanitizer) and sprayed the floor.
Sissy
September 4th, 2012
7:31 pm
I don’t want to be out anymore than the next person and I certainly don’t want a stomach bug.
Prof
September 4th, 2012
7:46 pm
@ fultonschoolsparent, September 4th, 7:13 pm.
Basically in college, it’s the honor system. Professors have to get their own substitutes if they’re absent, but usually can’t because they’re specialists in their fields and others can’t teach their classes. It’s not like K-12 where faculty are interchangeable. College faculty come and go, and no-one punches a time-clock. If you have the flu and call off class for a week, no-one knows but the students and you just change your syllabus accordingly. But malingerers do get in trouble, for students nearly always complain if you miss more than a few days…. especially the ones who aren’t getting A’s.
Unused sick leave is accrue-able at a maximum rate of 1 and 1/4 days per month and be used as creditable service, counting toward retirement or a time when you need unpaid leave like a family death.
I know, I know—let the scornful and/or envious comments begin. But that’s just the way it is at a large college/University.
MiltonMan
September 4th, 2012
7:48 pm
Once again Fulton County is sucking the lifeline known as North Fulton dry.
TeacherMom4
September 4th, 2012
8:02 pm
In my county, it doesn’t matter how much sick time you have saved up, you can only be paid for 6 weeks for maternity leave. This means that financially people have to come back to work unless they can afford 6 additional weeks unpaid, for the total of 12 FMLA weeks. The days also include personal days (3 total). Last year was the first time in 6 years that I took a day off for being sick. I generally only miss if one of my kids are sick (I have 4). I have even sent my kids to school sick to avoid being out. I figure my kid got sick because somebody else didn’t want to be out of their job either. I am exposed to far more in the way of biohazards than my engineer husband. He also expects me to be the one who stays home with a sick kid every time.
Ron F.
September 4th, 2012
8:06 pm
And another thing: if we’re going to compare teacher salaries to the private sector, think about this: you need a pen in your office. Where do you go? the supply closet, cabinet, etc. Your printer needs paper, where do you go? Same place. You need certain materials for a business meeting presentation, what do you do? You fill out a purchase order and get the materials. Where do teachers go for these things? In most place I know of, they go to their own wallets and pay. In the last five years or so, we’ve gotten nothing to help cover the cost of daily supplies. Most of us buy hand sanitizer, tissues, and other supplies for our kids to use from our own money. What hospital makes the surgeon bring his own supplies? What business makes the employee pay for the paperwork he/she is expected to print and submit?
While the average teacher salary may seem like a lot, think about this: what you expect in a business where the vast majority of employees has at least one, and usually more than one, college degree? What would you think fair for someone with twenty years of experience and a master’s degree to make?
Ron F.
September 4th, 2012
8:10 pm
@Dr. Henson: thanks for sharing your daily rate. I thought you would, and it’s not bad considering the responsibilities of your job. I don’t have the interest in that level of service. Like my current superintendent, you seem to do your share to earn the salary. I’m sure my tone earlier showed how tired I am of getting all the negative comments about what we’re paid without the critics understanding just what we do day in and day out to “earn” that money, and what we give back monetarily and out of our heart and soul to be successful. They find one example of a bad apple and want to throw out the whole orchard. I wonder what they think good teachers will be willing to work for if they make the benefits what they see as “fair.” How many days of sick leave are you able to currently give your teachers?
Teacher
September 4th, 2012
8:41 pm
I respect this blog for the most part, but this is an awful example of baiting teacher haters. The writer should have pointed out that the county average for sick days used is way below the number of days given. Most teachers save up these sick days for maternity or paternity leave? Can one person on this blog make a case that a new mother or father should be deprived of having a few weeks to spend with their new born without worrying about financial ruin? If you try to, then you truly have no soul.
Dr. Monica Henson
September 4th, 2012
8:55 pm
Real World Education posted, “the average experience level in a classroom is only a few years.” Not true.
The National Center for Education Statistics’ most recent figures are from 2007-2008 and show that nationally, teachers average about 14 years of experience. “About 17 percent of teachers had 3 or fewer years of experience, 28 percent had 4–9 years of experience, 27 percent had 10–19 years of experience, and 27 percent had 20 or more years of experience. For the most part, this distribution did not change between 2003–04 and 2007–08; however, the percentage of teachers with 20 or more years of experience was lower in 2007–08 than it was in 2003–04 (30 percent).”
MsCrabtree
September 4th, 2012
8:57 pm
The soon to be gone supe of Clayton County and his Human Resources sidekick will terminate you if you take 6 sick days. God forbid you get sick. He did this by admin rule, so he didn’t need the BOE to approve it.
Dr. Monica Henson
September 4th, 2012
9:15 pm
Ron, I am happy to share information that is public record.
I usually end up working in the neighborhood of 70 to 75 hours a week (I am not counting my commute time into Downtown Atlanta, alhtough I use that time to make work-related phone calls on my hands-free device). When I was a classroom teacher (middle and high school English & history) I worked around 50 to 55 hours most weeks during the school year, including paper grading after school hours, more for the years I coached sports.
All of my employees, including me, start out with 8 sick days at the beginning of the first fiscal year when hired–this is prorated down by 2 days per quarter for employees hired after the first fiscal quarter. Unused sick time can be banked for future use, up to 70 days. Employees are not paid for sick time upon separation from employment.
We provide short-term disability coverage at no cost to our employees. They can accrue up to 70 days STD and bank it.
Maternity leave is treated like any other temporary disability. Employees can use sick leave, vacation time, & short-term disability, as well as Family & Medical Leave. Paternity leave is treated the same as maternity leave, except that employees can’t use short-term disability leave for it.
bootney farnsworth
September 4th, 2012
9:21 pm
someone needs to explain to slob the concept of salaried and contract workers.
bootney farnsworth
September 4th, 2012
9:24 pm
@ slob
“crybabies are always crybabies”
so you do have a mirror. excellent
bootney farnsworth
September 4th, 2012
9:27 pm
@ P&J
“I get zero paid days off. No holiday. No sick pay. No vacation days. No paid training time. If I show up to work and get something done, I get paid. That’s it. That’s life in the real world.”
life in your world, perhaps, but not for most Americans,.
stinks to be you
bootney farnsworth
September 4th, 2012
9:30 pm
@ William
lazy man you.
when GPC put me out the door, I had almost 700 hours sick & vacation leave. not that I’m getting compensated for it. guess we were being lazy together.
Dr. Monica Henson
September 4th, 2012
9:41 pm
I don’t think it’s realistic to compare teachers salaries to private-sector compensation. Teacher salaries are tied to length of service and adding degrees, and for the most part they are not tied to any sort of real performance outcomes. another comment posted about bonuses paid to private-sector employees. Bonuses are generally tied to quantifiable outcomes, such as sales figures and other ways of generating business for the company. Education employee unions and other membership organizations fight tooth and nail against any type of change to the salary structure that public school districts follow, except to raise pay without adding accountability measures that take into account student achievement. As long as this kind of rhetoric dominates the teachers’ side of the conversation, the general public will never be willing to support increasing teachers’ pay, other than paying lip service to the idea that teachers are overworked and underpaid.
Math & Tech teacher
September 4th, 2012
9:47 pm
What a news story, AJC is teacher bashing again!! The average teacher salary is $52K? Where? I’ve been teaching for 10 years and haven’t had a raise in the last 3 due to furloughs and budget cutbacks. So how is salary increasing? BTW, I am 10 years in and actually make LESS THAN $50K a year, however the stated salary schedule would put me at just more than $50K. I work from 7:30am to 5:30pm every day with a 20 min lunch break that is used to supervise children while I eat. That does allow for the bathroom break, but nothing else. Planning time is used for copying, emails, conferences, meetings, etc. I work another 15 – 25 hrs on weekends grading and posting grades. My God folks, that is 50 hrs a week at school and another 20 on weekends, and NO, I do NOT DRAW THE $50K as stated by the “experts”. I DO NOT NOT NOT GET PAID FOR HOLIDAYS, BREAKS, OR SUMMERS!!!!! I DO NOT GET “OVERTIME”.
Sick leave is restricted use and Fulton County has rules against taking personal days on Fridays or Mondays. Sick leave is NOT A COST to the taxpayer UNTIL IT IS TAKEN. Then it is only used when one is sick!!!!! In my current system we don’t even take sick leave because the system does not have the money to pay for substitutes. It is emergency use only and days taken are tracked by personnel.
AJC, enough fantasy. When will you publish the reality?
Dr. Monica Henson
September 4th, 2012
10:12 pm
Private-sector employees on salary are not paid for weekends, either. I’m not sure how that is relevant. Teachers are not paid for days outside the ones they actually work, but take a look at the comparison in this aspect: a private- or public-sector exempt employee earning $52K, working year-round except for two weeks’ vacation and about ten paid holidays, puts in 241 days’ of work (365 days in a year – 104 weekend days – 10 vacation days – 10 holidays). At 8 hours a day, that’s 1,928 hours. At $52K, that employee is earning $26.97 an hour, regardless of any overtime worked.
A public school teacher works 190 days a year at an average $52K annually. At 8 hours a day, that’s 1,520 hours. At $52K that teacher is earning $34.21 an hour. Let’s assume the teacher actually works 50 hours a week, even though s/he is not paid overtime. This is not the case every week of the year, because there is a testing window in the spring, when holidays approach there may some “noninstructional” days being factored in (a practice I despise and did not indulge in, but I’ve seen way more teachers do it than not), and after state testing, many teachers let up and don’t assign the volume of work to be scored that they did prior to testing. I estimate (conservatively) that there is an average of 20 days out of the 180 student contact days that teachers do not work any overtime at all. So for 140 days, or 28 weeks, the teacher is logging extra hours at 20 hours per week. 28 * 20 = 560 additional hours added onto the 1520 paid hours, for a total of 2080 hours. Prorated, the teacher earning $52K a year is actually earning $25 an hour, a difference of $1.97 an hour less than the private-sector employee.
I’ll bet that most employees, public or private, earning $52K would be willing to consider taking a $1.97 hourly cut in pay to gain a weeklong break at Thanksgiving, a two-week break at Christmas & New Year’s, another week in the spring, and eight weeks in the summer. Particularly if they have school-age kids.
Dr. Monica Henson
September 4th, 2012
10:19 pm
Whoops, I miscalculated. An extra TEN hours a week for 50 hours weekly, not 20. 10 hours a week extra * 28 weeks = 280 hours. Added onto the 1520 paid hours annually, that’s 1800 hours. At $52K a year, the teacher is earning $28.89 an hour.
Hey Teacher
September 4th, 2012
10:21 pm
Just because teachers accrue sick leave does not mean it is possible to actually USE said leave. In my district, there are so many “rules” about taking leave that most of us only use it when we have no other choice because you or someone in your family is seriously ill. We are given 10 plus days per year is to cover maternity leave and other long term illnesses which occur maybe a few times a career. Many counties do not offer short term disability leave, so sick leave is the only way to cover a family illness, maternity or paternity leave, an accident or other event.
Dr. C
September 4th, 2012
11:44 pm
It seems odd that both “sides” here seem blind to the fact that all salaried workers, teachers and private sector work more than 8 hours a day. While I think most people understand that teachers often work >8 hours a day and take work home with them… I did that for 28 years in the private sector. My wife was a teacher, so we spent many an evening working at home. When I retired, I left 24 weeks of sick tome on the shelf. The righteous indignation some of the teachers here express seems tainted by a lack of understanding that long hours, work at home, and practical limits on time off are not issues they alone experience.
I love teaching. I hate what it is becoming...
September 5th, 2012
6:23 am
@Dr. Henson “I estimate (conservatively) that there is an average of 20 days out of the 180 student contact days that teachers do not work any overtime at all.”
First of all, many of us work more than the 180 days they students are in school. Even on “workshop” days, many of us arrive at school before the workshop, work, go to the workshop, then go back to school to work more. Secondly, many of us also spend several days during the summer in the classroom getting ready or dealing with creating lessons. Furthermore, I always keep track of how many days I actually leave work ON TIME and do not stay late. Last year it was 12, and that was because I had some health issues and many doctors appointments – which I scheduled AFTER hours to keep from having to use sick days. They year before, it was 8. The year before that, I think it was around 10. I do not recall EVER leaving on time 20 days…nor do I recall my colleagues doing so – except for the ones with small children, who often then come BACK to work after they have seen to their kids.
And less that $30 an hour is not really a great salary for a profession that often requires a graduate level degree.
I wish we could have a “reality” show based upon what teachers actually do in a day – I think most of the public would be shocked at how little down time we actually have.
RealWorldEducation
September 5th, 2012
6:48 am
As of last year, one year was more the average according to some statistics.
http://today.msnbc.msn.com/id/44505094/ns/today-education_nation/t/classroom-crisis-many-teachers-have-little-or-no-experience/#.UEcty2t5mSM
Dr. Monica Henson
September 5th, 2012
7:27 am
RealWorldEducation, the fact that students were “more likely to encounter a teacher” with fewer than 3 years’ experience in 2011 means that the average number of inexperienced teachers had risen somewhat from the 2008 average of 17%, not that most teachers working now average one year’s experience nationally.
Entitlement Society
September 5th, 2012
7:42 am
@Another Comment – obviously you don’t work in the Private Sector. Don’t speak about which you don’t know firsthand.
Another Math Teacher
September 5th, 2012
10:51 am
Monica Henson : “Whoops, I miscalculated. An extra TEN hours a week for 50 hours weekly, not 20. 10 hours a week extra * 28 weeks = 280 hours. Added onto the 1520 paid hours annually, that’s 1800 hours. At $52K a year, the teacher is earning $28.89 an hour.”
Wow, again I have to assume you work in a school where they ride unicorns to work. I worked 2350 hours a year while teaching. The only ones that I saw working less were the P.E. teachers and the teachers who were working out their contract before moving to a new job.
So, let’s use the $52000 figure you cite. 2350 hours per year is below average, but we’ll use that as well.
$52000 / 2350 hours = $22.12/hour.
If you think the teachers you worked with only worked 1800 hours a year you probably should not be in administration. Oh, wait, weren’t you NBCT and teaching low end students and such? How many hours did *you* work?
“Private-sector employees on salary are not paid for weekends, either.”
You don’t know the difference between salaried and contract? Hint: teachers are contract employees, not salaried. Private sector contract employees are paid what their contract says they are paid. You’re insane if you think contract employees don’t make sure they get paid extra money for putting in extra hours.
Entitlement Society
September 5th, 2012
11:00 am
@Another Math Teacher – your wrote “Private sector contract employees are paid what their contract says they are paid. You’re insane if you think contract employees don’t make sure they get paid extra money for putting in extra hours.”
Wrong. Again, teachers, please stop espousing on the private sector when you don’t work there. A contract is a contract. Typically it is for a stated project or number or hours. A contractor just can’t work any number of hours as he or she pleases and expect to get paid. Really. Talk about the land of unicorns…
Prof
September 5th, 2012
11:26 am
I think what needs to be explained to some posters such as sloboffthestreet, Pride & Joy, Another Math Teacher, and Entitlement Society is the difference between wages and salaries. Labor compensation paid by the hour is termed wages. Of course it doesn’t include leave days, sick days, or vacation days, for it only pays for the hours actually worked. Labor compensation that is a fixed amount for the work to be done is termed a salary. It doesn’t matter how long it takes the salaried worker to complete the work, so long as it is done.
Entitlement Society
September 5th, 2012
11:39 am
@ Prof – I work in the private sector. Of course I know the difference between a salaried worker and an hourly worker. No where in either of my posts did I indicate lack of that knowledge. My point is that apparently teachers posting on this board love to call out non-teachers thinking they know it all about the education world. Well, tides have turned, and now I’m trying to educate them on the how compensation in the private sector works. If they think they can just get a contract job and work as many hours as they’d like and get paid for it all or perhaps get the bonuses that @Another Comment speaks of, why aren’t they in the private sector? Oh, that’s right… They’re the martyrs self-condemned to teaching the dregs of society that we, as parents, are so bad at raising and disciplining. (Don’t worry, my little darlings won’t cross the threshold of your classroom.)
Another Math Teacher
September 5th, 2012
11:51 am
Entitlement Society: “Wrong. Again, teachers, please stop espousing on the private sector when you don’t work there. A contract is a contract. Typically it is for a stated project or number or hours. A contractor just can’t work any number of hours as he or she pleases and expect to get paid. Really. Talk about the land of unicorns…”
Yes, you are wrong. I was private sector before I taught and I am private sector now. I said that if they are expected to work extra hours that it would be in the contract and they would get paid. Did you read that? Did you sign a contract that said “all hours on weekends are not to be paid?”
Might want to read and understand something before you spout off.
“Well, tides have turned, and now I’m trying to educate them on the how compensation in the private sector works.”
The only thing you have done is clearly demonstrated your ignorance.
Entitlement Society
September 5th, 2012
12:28 pm
@Another Math Teacher – my, my, such hostility… and on an education blog! Please point me to the time of your post where you wrote “I said that if they are expected to work extra hours that it would be in the contract and they would get paid. Did you read that?” because I don’t see that anywhere. I honestly didn’t read where you wrote that. Your post stated “Private sector contract employees are paid what their contract says they are paid. You’re insane if you think contract employees don’t make sure they get paid extra money for putting in extra hours.” Your first post never said “if they are expected to work extra hours that it would be in the contract and they would get paid.” Now you’re changing the whole discussion. Being EXPECTED to work extra hours is one thing, but voluntarily working extra hours is another. Let me throw this one out there… what contract positions in the private sector are you referring to that have negotiated such generous terms with regard to overtime (extra hours)? Since you have such extensive experience in both the public and private sector, maybe you could tell us what these positions are that are so wonderful compared to a teacher’s contract? The ones I’m aware of don’t allow compensation for extra hours. For example, a consultant is engaged by a company for an engagement of “x” time length for “x” dolllars. He is expected to solve the problem in that length of time. If he doesn’t, any additional time he spends is on his own dime. Another example, a painter signs a contract to do a job for $5,000. Whoops. He didn’t realize it’s going to take him 12 days instead of 10 days. A contract is a contract; he doesn’t have recourse to get extra compensation. BTW, yes, any hours I work on the weekend are unpaid thank you.
RJ
September 5th, 2012
12:35 pm
@Dr. Monica Henson, you really want everyone to believe that this job is gravy huh? First, I had a baby last year and didn’t have any long or short term disability. Guess what, when my 20 sick days were up, I wasn’t paid! I didn’t plan any of my pregnancies around vacations. Is it really that easy to conceive? Also, I work late just about every day. I sit through long meetings after work, leaving around 5. My day begins at 7:30 although I arrive around 7:15 to get set up for the kids. Our new lesson plans are about 3 pages, so I have to do 7 separate detailed lesson plans every week. I only get 45 minutes of planning, so I am never able to get it all done. It takes a lot of preparation to create a lesson plan. Then I have to make copies, input grades, etc. I am also required to offer tutoring once a week. I have to stay until the last parent arrives. No matter how much we complain, parents will come late, very late, to pick up their child. In the meantime, my little one has been sitting in daycare since 6:45am. During the summer months I take classes to meet the 10 hour plu requirement. I’ve taken at least one class every summer. This is always paid for by me. We have multiple furlough days this year, which I don’t see in any of your calculations. In the school system I just left, you received 3 days for Thanksgiving. My current school system just started a week for the break last year. My pay has stayed the same for the past 6 years. My husband works in the corporate world and has similar if not better benefits than me. I don’t even use our health insurance because it’s so expensive. His is much better. He gets 4 weeks paid vacation and an additional 5 days of sick leave. Just like me, he doesn’t use them. We’ve been told if we use more than 5 days without a doctor’s excuse we’ll be written up.
It’s great you love your job and your pay. I’d love to earn $115,000 a year too. I love teaching, but I hate what it’s becoming. I plan on leaving this profession very soon.
Another Math Teacher
September 5th, 2012
1:00 pm
Entitlement Society:
Right here is where I stated it: You’re insane if you think contract employees don’t make sure they get paid extra money for putting in extra hours.
Whether those hours be on the weekend, at night, at day, or on Friday between 3:30 and 3:45 is not relevant. The relevant part is hours outside the contract.
You clearly do not work on a contractual basis. Right now one of my contracts requires me to be available M-F for differing hours each day. They wanted me to do extra work on a months worth of Saturdays. They wrote a new additional contract for Saturdays only. Of course they did not expect me to work for free on Saturdays, since my original contract called for M-F only.
“Since you have such extensive experience in both the public and private sector, maybe you could tell us what these positions are that are so wonderful compared to a teacher’s contract?”
The contract for teachers in the district I worked in was incredibly one sided. No lock in of pay rate, vague terms such as “other duties.” You know in other positions you get to negotiate the contract. You don’t sign it if you don’t like it. Well, of course you don’t know that. You don’t work on contract, do you?
“The ones I’m aware of don’t allow compensation for extra hours. ”
Contracts are not required to be based on certain tasks, you know that right? They can be based on anything. Hours, availability, task completion. Well, of course you don’t know that. You don’t work on contract, do you?
If you really worked on a contractual basis, you would know these things. If you really worked on a contractual basis, you would know that the ‘positions’ are generally within your area of expertise.
“The ones I’m aware of don’t allow compensation for extra hours.”
So, you admit your ignorance and lack of experience while trying to ‘educate’ people on how the private sector works? How’s that working out for you?
Entitlement Society
September 5th, 2012
2:03 pm
I work on a contract basis. Most contracts I have seen are based on projects or set hours. The contracts don’t allow you to work whatever hours you think appropriate to get the job done. I would never write an employment contract like that as an employer. What employer would leave hours open ended like that? Not a smart one.
No ignornace here. No lack of experience here. Moving on.
Dr. Monica Henson
September 5th, 2012
4:22 pm
RJ, I don’t believe that teaching is “gravy” at all. However, teachers are not being paid slave wages, which becomes apparent when you calculate it out, even accounting for working more than 8 hours daily over several weeks out of the school year.
sloboffthestreet
September 6th, 2012
11:15 am
Another Math Teacher
PLEASE, You expect us to believe you work over 12 hours a day, every day for 190 days each year? I think your nose is growing once again.
As for your comment about my correct observation pertaining to a certain magnet school and their outstanding performance, please go back and visit the article and you will see the post was in relation to minority students lack of performance and that particular magnet school enrolls a majority of black students. So I see once again you fail to deal with the truth and twist and turn facts until you become comfortable with the lie you have created. There is a name for that process you posses. Also please proof read your comments. After all you are the teacher, aren’t you?
Billie Casey,
I see you also fail to state the facts. Perhaps the statement you made about not working for your money may be true but I am quite certain your unused sick days counted toward your retirement. I am also quite certain we have discussed this fact here on the schooled blog. I don’t see where anyone is obliged to THANK YOU for being credited for your accumulated sick pay. The days you saved in your early years of teaching were cashed in at your higher pay rate of your last year of service. Perhaps you should THANK THE TAXPAYERS! Sounds like a SWEET DEAL to me!
I love all the stories about how some teachers never take a day off. It hasn’t been my experience with our children’s teachers. Our county gives the teachers 17 days total. 12 sick and 5 personal. Our sons 3rd grade teacher used personal days to go to Disney. Surgeries for chronic conditions are planned for during the school year. Not the summer break and they are allowed to return to school to teach while taking prescription pain medication but have another teacher provide transportation for them to and from school because they feel they are not able to drive under the influence. They are OK to teach under the influence? Interesting.
I loved the post about so many people are provided company cars and given large bonuses in the private sector. Really? I think some cold hard facts are needed to make that case. I’m calling BS on it just like ajones stating public school teachers earn an average of $180 a day and Another Math Teacher works over 12 hours every day.
Thank you to the honest educators who correctly stated the facts concerning salary for educators. And as it was correctly stated all public school teachers are state employees paid by the state according to the pay scale. Supplements added to the salary are paid by the local taxpayers as are administrators salaries. That is why they are not added into the Average Teacher Salary figures. Look Ma, NEW MATH!!
crankee-yankee
Please note I never rejoice. I do delight on occasion but it would never be over another persons misfortune. In your case it sounds like you are angry about your poor career moves. Don’t feel alone, from time to time some of us suffer from the same curse. Ourselves. How human? What is it that Ron White says?
You go on about this fact and that fact and after 30 years teaching you admit you don’t know what the facts are. Perhaps that is the trouble with education today. Just an observation. I just expect more from people who claim to be educated.
artvicki
September 6th, 2012
12:37 pm
Sadly, religious holidays are taken as personal or sick days. Jewish, Muslim, and any other religions must use sick days or personal days to practice their chosen religion. I don’t see school in session on Christmas or Easter. How nice for those people who do not have to choose to get paid or practice a religion. The year I had my son, I had to use all my sick and personal days for maternity leave. I then had to take off for Rosh Hashana and Yom Kippur without pay. And, don’t forget jury duty. If I do not have a sick day left, I will get docked for my civic duty as well.
Ole Guy
September 6th, 2012
1:26 pm
Once again, we see much fodder to support the activity known as teacher bashing…I prefer to label such activity as KICKING EM IN THE SIX AND…MAYBE, JUST MAYBE…PRODING THIS PARTICULAR LABOR GROUP TO START EARNING THEIR CREDENTIALS. While gaining the legal right to call one’s self “teacher” is certainly not one requiring much more than the superficial passing of a “simon sez” course of study, the process of remaing an effective teacher is quite anotherv story; one which requires all teachers to realize that they must EARN the title every damn day. Do they deserve all this pto/paid time off? Absidamnlutely! SOME DAY, maybe they will all, collectively, come to understand this and stop assuming the position of hand maidens of educational policy set by bafoons. Once they, collectively, start assuming a little control of their professions, these petty arguements will become completely moot.
More info on how many days teachers take off | Get Schooled
September 19th, 2012
3:00 pm
[...] I recently wrote about a new report on paid teacher leave that prompted questions from posters. The findings were from the Washington-based National Council on Teacher Quality, which ranked 113 school systems nationwide. [...]