Let me start by saying, Tallahassee has done our district no favors, something board member Scott Shine said they were going to do last summer when he spoke of huge increases to per pupil spending.
Instead of allocating money like they should, Tallahassee has continued to kneecap public education siphoning resources to charters and vouchers. Well friends, elections are coming and we need to replace all the anti-public education, i.e. republicans, representatives in Tallahassee with people who will support our schools.
All that being said, come on DCPS, Broward County, pretty much in the same boat as us, found enough money in the couch cushions to give their teachers between 2.5 and 3.6 percent raises.
http://www.sun-sentinel.com/news/education/fl-broward-teacher-raises-approved-20171219-story.html
They year is half over on Tuesday and there seems to be no end in sight to the negotiations and it's frustrating.
Now in years past when there were negotiations the district has always retroactively paid teachers which is great but another teacher pointed out, I hope that comes with interest.
Let this sink in too. I teach at a center school as do hundreds of others, and last year I had to agree to stay for three years to get the center school stipend. Well it's not just step raises which are being held back but the stipends are being held back as well. I am making less this year than I did last and now that my student loans have come due I am making less than I made six years ago. I get it I chose this job and chose to stay but at the same time we are losing teachers hand over fist and nobody seems to care.
Teachers are already way underpaid and this prolonged contract negotiation I have to think is doing harm to the profession.
More and more teachers in more and more districts are working just to the contract, well friends we don't have a contract right now, what should we work to?
Instead of allocating money like they should, Tallahassee has continued to kneecap public education siphoning resources to charters and vouchers. Well friends, elections are coming and we need to replace all the anti-public education, i.e. republicans, representatives in Tallahassee with people who will support our schools.
All that being said, come on DCPS, Broward County, pretty much in the same boat as us, found enough money in the couch cushions to give their teachers between 2.5 and 3.6 percent raises.
http://www.sun-sentinel.com/news/education/fl-broward-teacher-raises-approved-20171219-story.html
They year is half over on Tuesday and there seems to be no end in sight to the negotiations and it's frustrating.
Now in years past when there were negotiations the district has always retroactively paid teachers which is great but another teacher pointed out, I hope that comes with interest.
Let this sink in too. I teach at a center school as do hundreds of others, and last year I had to agree to stay for three years to get the center school stipend. Well it's not just step raises which are being held back but the stipends are being held back as well. I am making less this year than I did last and now that my student loans have come due I am making less than I made six years ago. I get it I chose this job and chose to stay but at the same time we are losing teachers hand over fist and nobody seems to care.
Teachers are already way underpaid and this prolonged contract negotiation I have to think is doing harm to the profession.
More and more teachers in more and more districts are working just to the contract, well friends we don't have a contract right now, what should we work to?
I noticed that the contract, which says 16-17, but was not in last year's contract, is being altered. The district is allowed to listen in/watch us using technology (not just our computers). Should I assume that DTU already agreed to it? BTW, why has their website been under construction for over 2 yrs. now? Teachers are quitting midyear at my school like crazy.
ReplyDeleteIt may be time that we did work to the contract. However, at times the contract is rather vague and it seems to me we have admin that run right past that proverbial line and cross it but are able to because what they do "technically" does not violate contract. I have to admit I am tired of hearing that line.... Seems our contract should be a bit more detailed in some areas so there is none of this "technically..." Although I hate that our profession has come to this point. It used to be fun and the kids still learned. Are we really producing better results now with all of this iron-fisted structure? Data would seem to indicate we are not since Duval's literacy scores continue to decline. But hey, what do I know? I'm just a lowly teacher...
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