Thursday, August 31, 2006

Sometimes . . . Being In Education Sucks!

Over the years, one of the worse parts about being a teacher is how limited you are for absences. They don't want anyone to take off Mondays or Fridays, you can't miss too many days in a row, etc. Last year, my school and school district had an obscene substitute "bill" and
now we are paying the price for it! This morning, we received the following email:

"Staff, the District spent over $4 million dollars last year in substitutes. XXX AL's XXX High School had almost 9,000 substitutes last year. This year each campus has a budget for ALL absences (excluding vacancies, special education student aides, and pullouts). Therefore, do
not do the following or your pay will be subject to be docked:
1) Schedule appointments during the day-- try to do this after school or during your conference period.
2) Schedule flights without prior approval-- seek permission prior to planning a trip.
3) Assume you will be granted approval.
4) Schedule absences before or after a school holiday.
5) Assume you will go to the same tournaments, meets or various
competitions (like last year).

Our campus budgets have been cut drastically. We ask for your patience as we endure this cutback, but we have to reduce the excessive absences. We are tracking staff absences per staff member vs. per dept. like we did last year. Thanks!"

Uuuuuhhhhh . . . ARGH! First, how are we supposed to remain positive and, in turn, be positive for our students with directives like this coming from the administration? Second, how can they tell me when I can and cannot use the days I earned for absences? Being like this makes the staff resort to manipulation and lies! I have a trip planned and know that I will have to call in sick or with a sick kid to miss work.

I earned those days and have a right to use them.

This frustrates me! Can you tell? - AL

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

This annoys me to no end. Any decent job understands that you can't do anything on a weekend. Doctor's appointment? No way! What other industry has an entire substitute on-call system? We are all familiar with the hardships teachers endure (low pay, paying for supplies out-of-pocket, no enforcement by Principals) but this takes the cake. Thanks heavens for the people who put up with this for the greater good (like yourself), but how do they expect anyone worth a damn to out up with this to become a "veteran". The benefits and pensions aren't even that good any more! Ugh. Keep your chin up! We all appreciate your work, whether we realize it or not!

Robin said...

I'm so depressed at the way teachers are being treated. It's part of the reason I got out when I did (before certification) and the main reason my kids are going to lose all their good teachers.

CameraDawktor said...

teachers have just about the hardest jobs in the world. they are expected to be everything to every kid and get so little pay.

sometimes it can be so hard to keep morale up with a staff, and there are always so many directives coming down from the state and federal level that you have to abide by too. i think it's in public education's best interest to make teaching a more pleasurable career, or more and more young people entering into the profession will choose something else!

hang in there friend. i'm glad you have a place like your blog to let off some steam about it!

Kami said...

Jackasses.