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Friday, April 28, 2017

A look at Teach for America Jax's finances (rough draft)

You may have picked up that I am frustrated by the QEA giving the local Teach for America office 6.25 million dollars. Especially since DCPS already picks up the salaries, benefits and training of the local teachers and has kicked in an extra 600,000 dollars beyond that. Currently according to the TFA Jax web-site there are 125 corp members a tiny sliver of the 8,000 teachers in the district.

That 6.25 million dollars isn't the only money they have brought in from locals.

It's kind of hard to tell because they give a range of donations and not the specific amount but they seem to have raked in millions more.

https://jacksonville.teachforamerica.org/supporters

Now I bet 17 salaries, and an office, plus printer paper, I bet they have plenty of printer paper adds up but as schools are being squeezed tighter and tighter, is this really the best way the educational philanthropist community could be using their money?

I don't believe so.

These people/organizations want so desperately to be involved in education but at the same time they don't want to be seen helping public schools as they are somehow beneath them.

I can imagine how their thought process went. Cue Scooby Doo flashback music.

We'll give to those nice young men and women killing time before grad school. Give to that 22 year veteran Mrs. Mcgillicutty at P.S. 189 who spends her own money to buy her kids jackets and has to buy her own ink and paper, oh no,  No, no, no, no. Did you see the people at the TFA office they have little alligators on their sweaters, we will send our money there.

Ugh

3 comments:

  1. This entire huge school district has been turned into a for profit organization! And if you are willing to walk along and sometimes cross the thin linte of ethics (we all know what I'm talking about) in order to make the numbers look good, you can move up the ranks quickly (become a principle after 2 years in the classroom). Away from the classroom and out of touch with students, parents and most of all teachers. Hence the profit in 'for profit'. Profit in form of salaries for administrative positions (not teaching positions)! We seasoned teachers are under-appreciated, under-valued as a profession, and most definitely underpaid! It's not about what's best for the students, or the educational process, or the teachers! These shady backdoor deals...the politics...the arrogance! I have not yet lost hope only because my students need to have hope, believe in a good future. I switched to the Charter School system, took a huge pay cut and fled the district. I have not regretted it! The creative freedom in my lessons, what core texts I can use, the constructive feedback and support from my administrative team, no A/B schedule so I have a total of 65 students...I could go on. But there are downside like retirement plans (all we have is a 401K), expensive insurance...but I will not return to DCPS in the foreseeable future. Only when (or if) Vitti is gone, who knows who the next Super will be and what her/his agenda will be. Only time will tell and the tenured teachers will grin and bear and do what they do best: teach! No matter what the challenges this district puts on the teachers, the teachers will look out for what's most important, our students' education and wellbeing...

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  2. I'm guessing this is the 5K per head finder's fee for putting these inexperienced, ill-prepared people into our most challenging schools.

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  3. I noticed they haven't asked educators how best to support the children of our community. I also wonder how many TFA teachers there are at the charter schools they support? Do they put all their money for the charters into TFA? They don't ask because they don't really care about the children only the bottom line. They don't really care if public schools succeed because failure also means more in their pockets.

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