The $78,000 Babysitting Job
There are 74 high school teachers in Central Falls, Rhode Island who might get the axe…and not due to the economy. The graduation rate in the city’s high school is at 48 percent. There are 19-year-old students in classes with 14-year-olds.
Half way through the year 50 percent of students at the school are failing not one, but all of their classes.
In return, the teachers are making a $78,000 a year salary to babysit, if that. They don’t even want to commit to having lunch once a week with students to build better relationships — apparently that is not in their contract.
The unemployment rate in Rhode Island is 12.9%. People with advanced degrees can’t find a job at the local gas station, never mind a job paying $78,000 a year….and the Central Falls teachers don’t even work a full year. They get full benefits as well as summer off. Go figure, a big salary and benefits and they can’t sit down and spend twenty minutes at lunch getting to know students who are going to shape the future.
Am I delusional or did these teachers choose teaching as a career because they want to improve the lives of our children? Apparently it’s too much work to spend twenty minutes eating with children who could probably use some adult interaction and guidance. Oops…can’t do that. Maybe it’s more important to spend lunch in the teacher’s lounge dishing on American Idol or the what will happen on the last season of LOST.
Central Falls is not a wealthy community. The last census showed that about 25.9% of families were below the poverty line. The 2010 census will likely show an even higher number. Several reports show that violent crime levels in Central Falls tend to be much higher than Rhode Island’s average level.
This is a city where children NEED the extra attention of teachers but they aren’t getting it. Some might say that the children just don’t pay attention or they don’t care about school. It’s likely they don’t have a good support system at home. No, a teacher is not a parent but they chose this profession to help children succeed.
Yes, it is the teacher’s job to be a mentor for children. Balking at having lunch with these students is a major indication that new blood needs to be introduced into the Central Falls school system. Hell, I’d go to Central Falls to sit and have lunch with these kids to tell them what a big, promising world there actually is out there, if they just keep a can-do attitude.
Don’t try to fix the students, fix ourselves first. The good teacher makes the poor student good and the good student superior. When our students fail, we, as teachers, too, have failed. ~Marva Collins
True, teaching is likely to be a stressful position, but get a new job if it’s too trying. More money doesn’t solve the issue. Either you can handle it or you can’t. (and yes, I respect the profession and there ARE some amazing teachers out there.)
Do teachers make school a welcome place for children to come and learn or is it all about handing out homework and telling a student how bad they are doing? Don’t let me get started about my son’s middle school…for now.
Central Falls Schools Superintendent Fran Gallo has stated that an agreement must be made with the teacher’s union as to what can be done to improve things at Central Falls High School. Big no-brainer. Now it’s becoming a money issue. Of course.
According to the teacher’s union, $78,000 is not enough to get the 74 teachers who are obviously NOT educating the students at CF High School to agree to some new standards. These are the conditions that the Superintendent wants put into force or the teachers may be fired:
- Increase length of school day by 25 minutes to provide more instructional time for students.
- Formalize tutoring schedule so struggling students have extra help for one hour before and after school.
- Agree to eat lunch with students one day a week to build stronger relationships.
- Attend two weeks of professional development in the summer at a rate of $30 an hour.
- Stay after school for 90 minutes one day each week to work with fellow teachers analyzing student work and test data and discussing ways to improve teaching at a rate of $30 an hour if Gallo can find grant financing.
- Accept more rigorous evaluations by a third-party starting March 1.
The teachers’ union wants more “details” and that will likely mean money. Money to spend an extra 25 minutes in school teaching students who really need the extra time. According to a Providence Journal article, during negotiations, union officials pushed for a higher “per diem” pay rate of $90 per hour and wanted the district to pay for more of the additional responsibilities.
More details? Here are your details: do your job or go collect unemployment year round instead of just in the summer.
So, bottom line, if the students need more attention and a better graduation rate, someone is going to have to pay. There is not one teacher who has come forward to say, “You know, I chose a career of teaching to help children. My salary is great in light of the fact that I have summers off and don’t have to worry about standing at a food bank getting tonight’s dinner like many of my students’ families do. I want to do this because teaching is my passion.”
There is NO passion in that profession at Central Falls High School. Pay up or they aren’t going to eat lunch and chat with the kids who need it so much. Pay up or they aren’t going to work an extra 25 minutes with an extended school day. Pay up or they aren’t going to help tutor the kids who are struggling.
The mediocre teacher tells. The good teacher explains. The superior teacher demonstrates. The great teacher inspires. ~William Arthur Ward
It’s likely there are some brilliant kids at Central Falls High School. They probably don’t have the support at home and school is where they are for a major portion of their week. Who is going to encourage these children to learn if the teachers spend much of their time in negotiations about a few more dollars?
These children are almost adults. Some are 19 years old. They are soon to go out in the world and do what?
Get it together, Central Falls High School. For every one of the 74 high school teachers who are falling short in their duties, there are probably two or three (or more) people who have a passion for teaching who would likely grab that job for half the $78,000 salary. I hope it happens. It’s time for so many schools to look at what’s NOT being done and why home schooling is on the rise.
A child mis-educated is a child lost. - John F. Kennedy
i was also home schooled when i was younger and it is also a great weay to get your education.’”"
Home Schooling is also nice since you got to always see your kids.*”-
Home Schooling is also nice since you got to always see your kids.-.,
Home Schooling is also nice since you got to always see your kids.,”
Home Schooling is also nice since you got to always see your kids.`:-
I am havin’ some troubles trying to load your weblog. I’ve been read it(blog) many times before and never gotten something like this, but now when I try 2 load something it just takes a little while (6-15 minutes ) and then just stop. I have tried with “www.” or not. Does anyone know what the trouble could be? Please ask your support at hosting..And, yes, thanks for your post!
Can we work together to form a new school with you, and any other parents who are willing to?
http://forum.jdglobal.org/viewforum.php?f=33
http://jdglobal.org/contact.html
I reposted this on my FB page, Cheryl, and you are right on target. Teaching implies instructing something not known. No one said it would always be easy. Kinda like a marriage, you take the good with the bad. What a tragedy sending them out into the world as ignorant as when they started. I would be ashamed if I were a teacher there.
A key component of being good teacher is learning how to teach to your own weaknesses.
Bravo!!!! This note should be posted in every newspaper accrossed The United States AND Canada! It is just as bad up here too!
I often wish I became a teacher–I would have so much fun with the kids and teach them "outside of the book"…but that's not the norm here. It's "here's the book and some worksheets. Get to work."
So very infrequently do I come across a teacher these days who loves his/her job. It's a shame.
You are not delusional; Shaping lives is exactly what they signed up for. They are doing right now by NOT engaging their students. My Stepmother just retired from head of Special Education for the largest School Board in Canada, Peel Region. She started as a substitute teacher and her love of teaching and of people propelled her to a very decorated career.
The world needs more teachers!
Like me, you might go into teaching expecting to have fun, inspire kids, and teach them outside of the book, and instead, you'll end up having to teach test prep all the time because your school will close if test scores don't go up, and the minute you turn your back to give extra help or assistance to a struggling student, a different kid will leave a drawing of a penis on your desk.
But I guess that's my fault. I got a drawing of a penis on my desk because I didn't "inspire" them enough.
I went into the job for all the right reasons, but after getting no sufficient training or support from my administration, getting verbally beaten down by rude kids every day, and then getting torn apart in the media every day for problems that are way beyond a teacher's control, I'm ready to quit. I'm tired of being expected to have magic powers. Before I judge the Central Falls teachers too harshly, I'd like to know what the administration's role in the school's failure is. I think it's telling that I can't find any articles about the firings that interview STUDENTS. This decision is supposed to help them? Why aren't their voices being heard? Surely if their teachers were that bad, they would say something about it.
I DID quit after fifteen years, because I'd had it with rude kids and NO administrative support. I loved teaching, too, but the politics and insubordination and no respect at all for teachers were finally too much.
Teachers' unions have really messed it up, too, and membership for me was mandatory! Kinda like health care under Obama.
Check out George Will's article on teachers (and their unions) in Monday's Investor's Business Daily. Teacher/student ratio keeps going down, despite the union's ads to the contrary. (They even used incorrect grammar in their ad!)
BRAVO!!!