[Chatbrat]

When I retired back in 95, always wanted to be a teacher-well tried it for 6 weeks, could not believe what was being taught as HS math-gave up--a real eye opener was , when I found out that most teachers in the schoolt,I tried out sent their kids to private schools

A final thought, if you worked in Fl, in your career-do you think you would be able to retire when you did and could you afford to live in TV

[graciegirl]

North Haven School District Average Teacher Salary & How to Become a Teacher

Sumter Average Teacher Salary & How to Become a Teacher

You are right Jazuela. On this one it is 44k vs. 55k for average salary. I have heard wonderful things about Connecticut Schools and Florida Schools not so much. Very grateful to be from Ohio and raised our kids and saw our grandkids go through the wonderful Lakota Local School District.

Our grandson who started college with 13 advanced placement credits said college was easier than high school.

[tophcfa]

Given that Rory Mcllroy just won $15,000,000 for winning the Fed Ex Cup, it appears our society values golf way more than just about all other professions, including teachers? If you have not already done so, get your Grandkids a set of clubs for their next birthday!

[Velvet]

Originally Posted by dewilson58

Hi All !!!!




Does anyone have a suggestion as to how "we" determine a fair wage?? What's a formula which would work, district by district??


There should be a way to determine a fair starting wage and index by CoL by district, but I've never seen a proposal.


Just wondering, not helpful.

Just a thought, fair wage should be tied to the cost of living in the area. In Hawaii the teachers’ salaries are so low that Hawaii cannot keep their teachers. People leave this paradise because they can’t even minimally live there.

[Velvet]

Originally Posted by Chatbrat

When I retired back in 95, always wanted to be a teacher-well tried it for 6 weeks, could not believe what was being taught as HS math-gave up--a real eye opener was , when I found out that most teachers in the schoolt,I tried out sent their kids to private schools

A final thought, if you worked in Fl, in your career-do you think you would be able to retire when you did and could you afford to live in TV

One school does not a school system make, perhaps the teacher profession lost a great one in you.

I do remember my calculus teacher in high school. We had a double 40 minute class. He came in, put incomprehensible math on the board, asked “Any questions?” If you asked a question of any kind he belittled you or made fun of you to make sure there were no questions. Then after 5 minutes he left to go to the staff room or something for the rest of the time. We as a group tried to figure out the math problems from the assignment, from the text book, helped each other, encouraged each other. Those who were applying for university (I went into engineering) had to have A or higher achievement in the national test for calculus to be considered for admission.

Yes, there are some bad apples among teachers too.

[vintageogauge]

Just a tad of topic but a question that has been bothering me. As we all know there has been a ton of building in Wildwood with every homeowner and commercial building owner paying school taxes as well as Wildwood city taxes but no additional children going to the schools to speak of. Why does it take volunteers to paint the Junior High School football facilities? Where is this tax money going, I don't recall seeing any new schools being built or raises for teachers? I don't mind paying taxes for schools even without having children reside with us but it would be nice to know that the money is being spent for the betterment of the children.

[EdFNJ]

Originally Posted by Chatbrat

in NJ teachers are allowed to bank unused sick days, it adds up to a nice severance package upon retirement also teachers get extra pay for coaching and other duties

"Banked sick day payment at retirement" has to do with the contract negotiated with the local school district as well and not the State (in NJ). In our school district my wife had many hundreds of "banked" sick days which we REALLY thought she could get when she left. She rarely ever used one unlike a lot of employees who took every one every year. When she retired after ~35 years she received 50% payment for only 100 of them. Not quite the "windfall" for barely ever calling in sick for 35 years. She "donated" what was left to the "district sickday pool" where employees with serious illnesses and ran out of sick days could draw from them to which she and others donated over the years as well. Again, all based on the local school district contract negotiations not just living in NJ. The variance between districts with regard to benefits and "perks" is quite high. The only thing I believe that was fully controlled by just the State was the actual pension amounts and the medical benefits upon retirement.

[retiredguy123]

This argument about teacher pay has been going on forever and will not be solved here. Here are my opinions:

I don't like teacher unions or tenure. You should be able to fire a bad teacher.
Teacher salaries are fine. If you don't want the job, get another one. If they pay more in Connecticut or New Jersey, move there.
Higher pay should be based on better results, but, over the years, I have not seen better results in the schools. And, too much money goes to administrators.
As compared to most full time jobs, teaching is a part time job. Always has been.
Rory Mcilroy was not paid $15 million by the taxpayers.

[graciegirl]

Originally Posted by retiredguy123

This argument about teacher pay has been going on forever and will not be solved here. Here are my opinions:

I don't like teacher unions or tenure. You should be able to fire a bad teacher.
Teacher salaries are fine. If you don't want the job, get another one. If they pay more in Connecticut or New Jersey, move there.
Higher pay should be based on better results, but, over the years, I have not seen better results in the schools. And, too much money goes to administrators.
As compared to most full time jobs, teaching is a part time job. Always has been.
Rory Mcilroy was not paid $15 million by the taxpayers.

I am seeing a lot I agree with here.

[Velvet]

If teaching is a part time job, why do so many teacher suffer burn out and have to leave their chosen profession? Stress level is just under those of surgeons.

Tenure was introduced at universities to insure academic freedom. That you cannot be fired by a predominantly left leaning economic department, for example, because you have conservative views.

Unions seem to be best in small amounts. Unionizing the workforce say around 30% of the total labor force in a country, ensures better working conditions, higher than that it becomes protectionist and worker entitlement progressively. Below 30% encourages slave labor.

[Velvet]

Someone mentioned merit pay, ie. pay for student performance. Let me say why I don’t think it is a good idea (at least in elementary schools). A teacher does not work alone. One is good at math, one is good in music. Our school had an outstanding music teacher and we won all the competitions from choir, to boy’s quartet etc etc. We (the other teachers) got the uniforms, bused the kids to music performances, looked after all the paperwork necessary so the music teacher could concentrate on composing and teaching only. That was part of the reason why we were the best in our district. We pulled together. Another example was sports teams. One person taught the kids but the rest of us helped him with his regular class. Another is specialist, I was good in math, taught my colleague’s class too and she was great with language, she taught my class too in that area.

And then, student performance is absolutely related to student IQ. If teachers were paid merit pay they could demand that no student be placed with them who did not meet a certain level of IQ.

[retiredguy123]

Teaching is a part time job because they work fewer hours per day, get more holidays and breaks, and have most of the summer off, as compared to a full time worker who is on the job about 2080 hours per year, except for a few holidays and a couple of weeks vacation. Some teachers claim to spend extra hours after the school day, but, that time is not clearly defined, monitored, or mandated, and I have known teachers who do not spend very much time after the regular hours. If they burn out, they are probably in the wrong profession. My opinion.

[Velvet]

Originally Posted by retiredguy123

Teaching is a part time job because they work fewer hours per day, get more holidays and breaks, and have most of the summer off, as compared to a full time worker who is on the job about 2080 hours per year, except for a few holidays and a couple of weeks vacation. Some teachers claim to spend extra hours after the school day, but, that time is not clearly defined, monitored, or mandated, and I have known teachers who do not spend very much time after the regular hours. If they burn out, they are probably in the wrong profession. My opinion.

I am sorry that this is the public perception. In general, it is inaccurate.

However, there are teachers who try to take advantage and that deadwood needs to be trashed.

[Ben Franklin]

When I retired, I wanted to give back what I had learned in business. I went to a large meeting of people who were interested in becoming teachers. The speaker told us, that, if we were serious, we should all spend at least 5 days following a teacher around every class they taught. She then said, "and if you don't feel a need to see a psychologist after those 5 days, then teaching might be for you." I then spoke with a childhood friend who taught at a University, and he said, the biggest problem was that the kids weren't motivated, and blamed the parents for their lack of parenthood in raising their children. Obviously, teaching wasn't for me, but I came to realize that teachers should be paid much more.

[Velvet]

The ones who burn out are the ones usually who give their all to the profession and are not supported adequately. For most teachers, teaching is a calling, not a job.