Sumter working to fill teacher openings
 

The Sumter County School District is searching for solutions to an issue affecting all of Florida — adequately staffing its schools.* The student population at the district’s public schools grew from 5,427 students last school year to 5,785 this year, Assistant Superintendent Debbie Moffitt said, with increases at every school. At the same time, filling

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Teacher pay in FL is among the lowest in the nation. Increased pay should improve staffing.

Pay them professional wages. Not complicated

Education in Florida
 

Let teachers do their job which they’ve been trained to do. Stop the state control of what they teach and what students are allowed to discuss regarding the history of our country. Give teachers the respect and support to handle issues that have been compounded by our current society.

Education was originally designed to equalize opportunities for all children no matter your race, gender or economic background. That has changed and special needs within public schools have grown without the social and emotional support to address those needs. Salary increases would be a start, but allowing teachers to make educational decisions within their classroom and funding support for special needs of all kinds (academic or social and emotional) is just as important.

Couldn’t disagree more with you. Teachers need to follow an educational curriculum and not their social agenda. Allowing them to spew their personal beliefs to our young minds isn’t what we hire them. As for pay, we’re seeing fast food workers being lifted and even social Security has increased about 15% in the last two years. Teachers pay has not kept up. I’ve lived in Florida since 1972 and we have 3 daughters, all are teachers.

Of course teachers need to follow a curriculum that THEY have selected. Where was it mentioned that it’s okay to bring in one’s own social agenda? With that in mind, this is a changing world and if you want constructive discourse, you need to listen to the students. What would your daughters say about ways to improve the teacher shortage in Florida?

Teachers need to teach actual history, whether it makes kids uncomfortable or not. Kids are not taught CRT until college, is spite of the rumors you've heard. Teachers do need to get raises.

Three daughters all teachers. I hope they are good teachers. Being a teacher is an awesome job. I graduated high school in 1968. My buddy is a retired school principal.
It seems that quality of education has been falling since the year I graduated. A big question is WHY? I went to a good school in a good neighborhood so since most of what people pay in real estate taxes goes to the school our schools were well funded.

The US pays more per student than any of our competing nations and in terms of results we are not in the top third. Is it not fair to wonder WHY?

I remember some of my teachers in both high school and college. Interest in the subject an interesting way of presenting the information is contagious to the students.
I did have 2-3 good teachers and far too many mediocre ones. As well as some that made it clear it is a union job and their only interest was to do as little as possible till they can retire.

Charter schools like the one in The Villages have been proven to do a far better job at less cost. My view is the students come from homes where the parents care. Simple as that.

I'm not sure I support proposed school choice. Were that to come into effect the best students would exit the public school system leaving public education with the worst students and of course charter schools could report they do better.

In terms of PAY. WOW, no such issue can be discussed properly in this format. Teachers in Florida were recently given a significant raise. Among the lowest paid is no longer so. In terms of what a teacher is paid it does not include the FACT of every holiday off as well as SUMMERS where they can work a summer job and the BENEFIT PACKAGE.

They need higher standards for teachers AND higher pay to compensate those higher standards.

They need to reduce the mandatory weekly meetings that equate with mandatory overtime, which reduces the value of their "per hour" wage significantly. Teachers don't only work during the open school hours. They are required to maintain their certifications - which means continuing education at their own expense - they're not reimbursed for that. It also means they're often attending classes during the summer. They can sometimes spend hours correcting papers while they're home after school which again - cuts into the value of that "hourly wage." The last two weeks before school starts every year is time spent gathering supplies that they know their classrooms will need, that the school board has decided not to provide. Things as simple as colored paper to write the names of students on the bulletin board, magic markers in different colors and sizes, chalk or whiteboard markers, erasers, etc. etc.

That all comes out of the teacher's pocket, again - cutting the actual value of their "hourly" wage.

When all is said and done, because of budget cuts and cuts of provisions at the classroom level, teacher pay is nothing short of abysmal.

Completely wrong... Except for the raises part...

Completely right! Would you want your family’s history altered because it might be painful for others to accept? Transparency is for the good of everyone. That’s how we are allowed to feel compassion even though it’s difficult. No one is asking you to feel guilty about the past of any one’s life (yours or others), but we should all feel that our family’s history should be shared honestly. Back to the original question…Would you want any part of your family’s history to be covered up or denied?

You are right about CRT. Some believe everything they hear and do not do the research at all.

No one is "altering history"... No one is "covering up" history...

And CRT is most definitely being taught before college...

Yes, Children Are Being Taught Critical Race Theory in K–12 Schools in the US - Areo

For those who (wrongly) accuse FL of not allowing black history to be taught, they have enacted a LAW that states it MUST be taught...

Florida Statute 1003.42(2)(h) – Commissioner of Education's African American History Task Force

This seems to be the basis (covering up history) for those who are opposed to teaching the facts as are expressed in your above articles. It’s obvious in the district where I taught that CRT is considered a hot topic for those who are opposed to offering discourse on the topic. Sounds like this isn’t you or me, but there is a section of people who are definitely opposed to CRT and are very vocal about it. My point being, please let our educators be in charge of providing a curriculum that opens up conversation without judgement on anyone’s part.

No. The educators work for parents and tax payers. They should stick to the curriculum with emphasis on reading and STEM subjects to prepare kids for college or high-tech vocational school. Reading and math abilities are IMPERATIVE to higher earnings and upward mobility later on. Rewriting history (second guessing writers that lived ages ago, and actually witnessed the events, to fit certain agendas, or applying today's values to leaders from the past and trying to "cancel" them) is not their job.

Teacher qualifications need to be raised to ensure they are highly capable and pay should go up accordingly. (Research the minimum passing score needed for Florida teacher certification tests - the percent ranges from 68 to about 72% depending on the subject.. That's a C-student grade).