LI Teacher's Salaries (Union: homes, buy, preschool)
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40k start, 3% thereafter, salary caps at 125% of the median household income of district
15k student loan reduction payment (bachelors and masters) on aniversary of 3rd, 6th, 9th and 12th year of service
medical, dental, eye coverage (0% contribution years 1-5, 10% contribution years 5-10, ...cap contribution @ 25%)
50% reimbursement for required additional college credits
pension at 60
Try reading Shadowbosses - Government Unions Control America and Rob Taxpayers Blind - by Mallory and Elizabeth Factor - explains all about governmental unions and political influence. The teachers' unions are included in this book. Keep your Pepto Bismol handy - this book will make you sick.
If Nassau County and Suffolk County each had only one superintendent, that would go a long way to lowering our taxes. All those superfluous superintendents and asst. superintendents would be laid off along with any other redundancies.
So not true...
Look, I get it. People see a big number next to a smattering of big wigs and they say to themselves "OMG! This isn't right, those poor teachers are getting paid less then these guys! These administrators are the problem!" Simply not true. You would reduce a budget of tens of millions of dollars by $250,000, or basically taking a drop of water out of a full bathtub. It does not make a big difference. Having the average teacher cost more then entire household incomes of most area is the problem.
I disagree with these inane districts, admin pay, and everything else, but numbers are an objective standard, not a subjective one and should be treated as such.
Well at the rate things are going, with standardized testing companies determining our kids' curriculum, and making millions to do so, why have teachers at all? Why not just give parents a standardized testing manual to beat our kids to death with and be done with it? I am not a teacher but I will tell you that I am sick of all the teacher bashing. Education is a mess right now. Teacher morale is low. They went into the field to....wait for it....teach. And now what they are being told is that in order to secure their jobs they need to strictly teach to the test, as these tests determine their annual performance evaluations/job security.
From kindergarten, kids are broken down into categories- tier1,2,3, depending on performance. With the teachers' job security determined by standardized test scores, kids with special needs/learning disabilities in the lower level tiers are less desireable to have in class, because if they do not score as well as their peers they may skew the overall score and bring the teacher's performance evaluation down. The publishers of standardized testing manuals are making loads of money. They are the winners here. And our kids, who are now no longer individuals, but merely hard data/statistics, are the ones suffering.
Thank G-D for this teacher witch hunt though. It obviously is helping our kids. Oh, wait.....what we are left with is a NIGHTMARE!
Same old red herring. It's not a witch hunt and most are not "bashing" teachers. We are bashing the egregious salaries and benefits that are helping force people off the Island and further driving down home values. What's annoying is that if teachers are so altruistic and just got into it to "teach" why do they cry victim when asked to forego raises during a recession and in fact jettison their own members rather than lose a centimeter of traction on salaries and benefits? I live in a district with a median HOUSEHOLD (that means 2 incomes at least) income of $90,569 . My sons KG, 1st and 2nd grade teachers make $121k, $114k and $126k respectively for 182 days a year. I don't want to hear this victim crap anymore. No one hates them. They need to take their good fortune and humble the &$%* up! I've met with all of his teachers and have friends in the profession. Nice people, hardly the sharpest pencils in the box. Most I would not hire for a position in the real world. Thick LI accents, poor spelling and grammatical errors on take home handouts, unchecked assignments. I appreciate what they do for my kid. It's not an easy job. I pay them extremely well for it! EXTREMELY well!
The whole standardized testing scare is such a crock. We've had standardized testing since the 60's. Suddenly it's a nightmare because it's being used to judge TEACHERS and not just the students! Accountability....the Union's LEAST best friend.
I never said the teachers are the victims. The ones suffering most are our kids, because some kids are more likely to bring about high ratings for the teachers than others. And the issue is not the standardized testing. The issue is that standardized testing scores cannot and should not ever be the sole determinant as to whether or not a teacher is effective. So the teacher with the honors class is more effective than the teacher who has kids in class with IEPs, because their ELA scores are better? With the current system, that is exactly what the new teacher evaluations say. And that is complete garbage! Who wants to teach the inclusion classroom teaching kids with needs knowing you may never get that "highly effective" rating no matter what you do and will need to settle for merely "effective" at best because your kids will not get as high marks as the general ed students? I agree with accountability, but there has to be another way. A way that looks at individual student needs within the classroom and not just standardized test scores. What is wrong with this? Please DO enlighten me!
My husband and I have kids who are gifted and others with special needs. Our kids with needs will never score as high on these tests or progress as quickly as their peers. Is this because their teachers are ineffective? No! It is because they have been born with syndromes affecting their ability to learn. Why should the fact that their scores are lower than the other kids' scores impact their teachers' effectiveness rating? I don't think it should when both of thir teachers are working so hard to help my kids learn...and my kids are making great progress, just not at the same rate as the other kids, but great for THEM.
On the flipside, my oldest daughter is gifted and scored 100 percent on her test last year. How is her teacher this year supposed to produce a jump in her individual score? Is it the teacher's fault that my daughter got a perfect score last year? Is the teacher ineffective if my daughter now gets a 98?
Statistics are statistics and numbers are numbers, but using them as the sole determinant of teacher effectiveness is WRONG. Too many variables. Should it be factored into the rating? Yes! But should it weigh so heavily? No!
The issue is not the standardized testing. The issue is that standardized testing scores cannot and should not ever be the sole determinant as to whether or not a teacher is effective. So the teacher with the honors class is more effective than the teacher who has kids in class with IEPs, because their ELA scores are better? With the current system, that is exactly what the new teacher evaluations say. Who wants to teach the inclusion classroom when your job security may suffer and you may never get that "highly effective" rating and will need to settle for merely "effective" at best because your kids will not get as high marks as the general ed students? I agree with accountability, but there has to be another way. A way that looks at individual student needs within the classroom and not just standardized test scores. What is wrong with this? Please DO enlighten me!
Wahhh, waahh. The workplace is soooo unfair. If you're not "highly effective" you get a job at McDonalds and someone else gets your job. Sounds fair to me. The system allows for all of your contingencies ie at risk youth, IEPs, starting and ending points of reference for scoring, etc. If a 1st grade student goes from starting point a to finishing point b, regardless of the actual score, THAT is the measure the teacher is judged on. NOT that every score has to be perfect or judged equally. That's just a falsehood. The scores are ASSESSMENTS. Core competencies (ie standardized tests) are measured at the start and end of each year. The "oh, we'll be judged unfairly" line is just another smokescreen to scare everyone cause heaven forbid a precious teacher might have to be judged on merit and productivity. The "teacher as victim" card once again. Let's toss ANY system because it MAY POTENTIALLY be slightly unfair (which it isn't) even though it was dreamed up by those same magnificent educators that passed through our mighty NYSED system. No one is expecting your special needs student to progress at the same rate as your gifted child. That is just ludicrous and believing that is how the tests and assessments work is silly and naive. The Union is dead set against ANY measure of teacher effectiveness, productivity or accountability AT ALL. Always has, always will. This is nothing new. They don't need "another way." This way is fine. They'll just float a lot of BS to scare everyone into thinking they are being persecuted as always and threaten to "just teach to the test and nothing else." Yeah, real professionalism there! Asking them to perform to a professional standard for their professional salary and benefits is considered "hating, bashing, attacking"...etc etc. Same old song and dance.
Last edited by mongoose65; 09-29-2012 at 04:39 PM..
Heh... I'm not sure about the salary but my teachers in my district are wearing a "We educate, We make the difference" shirt because something about their contracts not being renewed. I'm not sure how it is throughout Nassau, but in my district all of my teachers are complaining.
Just thought I'd add my two cents about the whole teacher's 'protesting' via shirts haha.
Well at the rate things are going, with standardized testing companies determining our kids' curriculum, and making millions to do so, why have teachers at all? Why not just give parents a standardized testing manual to beat our kids to death with and be done with it? I am not a teacher but I will tell you that I am sick of all the teacher bashing. Education is a mess right now. Teacher morale is low. They went into the field to....wait for it....teach. And now what they are being told is that in order to secure their jobs they need to strictly teach to the test, as these tests determine their annual performance evaluations/job security.
From kindergarten, kids are broken down into categories- tier1,2,3, depending on performance. With the teachers' job security determined by standardized test scores, kids with special needs/learning disabilities in the lower level tiers are less desireable to have in class, because if they do not score as well as their peers they may skew the overall score and bring the teacher's performance evaluation down. The publishers of standardized testing manuals are making loads of money. They are the winners here. And our kids, who are now no longer individuals, but merely hard data/statistics, are the ones suffering.
Thank G-D for this teacher witch hunt though. It obviously is helping our kids. Oh, wait.....what we are left with is a NIGHTMARE!
You are right - teachers do want to teach. That is why most of them got into it. Problem is, somewhere along the line teaching started a slow downward slide to "show up and present the same lesson plan I've been presenting for the last 20 years and don't ask me for a conference during your lunch hour because it's my lunch hour too and my union won't allow it".
The whole standardized testing pressure cooker thing is a problem but you know what? It's my job as a parent to counter-balance that at home and tell my kids to do their best but not worry about it because it has no impact on their academic life.
Look, there's gotta be some way to measure the effectiveness of teachers. It's never going to be 100% fair. My sister is a teacher and last year she had 8 IEPs in her class, her co-worker gets none. They know my sister can handle it, other guy can't. Do you REALLY think if my sister's scores on the tests are lower they are going to can her in favor of the other guy? Of course not. BUT - year over year when one teacher's students are COMPLETELY bombing the test, parents complain about the teacher and ask to never have her again for younger siblings, that teacher is a problem. Oh, does it sound like I'm talking about a real life scenario? I am. My DS' 3rd grade teacher has FINALLY (I just found out) been removed from the classroom. Meanwhile he's in middle school and we (his parents and teachers) are still trying to un-do the damage she did. But tenure is a great thing, because now she's in a special ed classroom giving intellectually needy kids all the educational gifts they can handle.
Anyone who has ever been the better worker at a place of employment has experienced being given all the crap work, all the problem clients, or the more in-depth (read: more work) cases because they are better than their co-workers. And most of them that translates into getting diddly squat in return. That's life.
Heh... I'm not sure about the salary but my teachers in my district are wearing a "We educate, We make the difference" shirt because something about their contracts not being renewed. I'm not sure how it is throughout Nassau, but in my district all of my teachers are complaining.
Just thought I'd add my two cents about the whole teacher's 'protesting' via shirts haha.
Oh I love that. So professional. When my kids were in kindergarten the teachers wore buttons that said "UNBELIEVABLE! I AM TEACHING WITHOUT A CONTRACT IN GARDEN CITY". The button was about the size of a dinner plate. To their credit some of the teachers were embarrassed and wore it where it was hard to see.
When I was working at my first job out of college there was a point where everyone had to take a 5% pay cut as the company experienced some troubled times. Looking back I realize I should've gone to work with buttons for everyone that said "UNBELIEVABLE! WE ARE WORKING WITH A 5% PAY CUT". I'm sure it would've gone over well, especially when we had clients in.
The issue is that standardized testing scores cannot and should not ever be the sole determinant as to whether or not a teacher is effective.
Have you read the teacher evaluation criteria and procedure to be followed if a teacher is found to be ineffective for your SD?
1. If you do you will find there is not a district on LI where the standardized test scores are the sole determinant of a techer's performance. As a matter of fact in most districts the test scores are a minor factor in the teacher evaluation.
2. The procedure the SD has to follow to even present to the union the teacher is unfit for the job is mind-boggling intensive and can take up to two years. I am sure the SD will not even bother to initiate any action against a teacher.
The whole teacher evaluation issue is a non-starter when it comes to actually measuring teacher performance. They need to empower prinicpals to hire and fire at will like any other workplace.
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giving intellectually needy kids all the educational gifts they can handle.
