year round school???

[Bigprairie1]

Re: year round school???

Average teacher salary in California is close to $70K and can reach to almost $90K in the bay area. This is for a job that is only for 9 months so that is equivalent to $100K/year.
http://www.sacbee.com/2011/01/26/99...hool-district.html?appSession=344323157689250

In California, the teachers pensions are so great that the pension system is $65 Billion underfunded. You can retire as early as age 50 depending on your years of service.

Those wages appear to be very much in line with ours Bruce, so we aren't looking at too many differences there in terms of Canada and the U.S system.
The difference in the entire deal tho' is the pension. The Canadian Teachers Pension Fund is just the opposite to what you present. The teachers pension fund up here is so large and profitable that it is managed like a large investment company. They are invested in banks, real estate, high tech, mining, oil, etc, etc.....

So in all of this again, would an extended school year or at least a revamped school year so what was the full summer vacation was broken up into quarterly segments (or something like that) warrant more money for teachers?
This is a big issue up here right now.....our provincial government (state equivalent) has always been at major odds with teachers wanting more. Right now we have a 'net zero' wage increase policy for the next 2-3 years which isnt' going over very well. So the idea of changing the school year....particularly removing the summer vacation would probably not fly in any popular way with teachers and the union.
all Good
BP

 

[jasoutside]

Re: year round school???

Interesting....


So fellas I gotta ask...


Are you suggesting that teacher salaries and days/year worked are somehow "unfair"?

I always thought the US of A was a place where a man chooses his career (along with the benefits, or lack there of).

Maybe I'm wrong and we all need to "share the wealth"?

 

[Summer Fun]

Re: year round school???

Now tell me these kids of today aren't dumbing down with all their FREE time. :facepalm:

 

[bruceb58]

Re: year round school???

Are you suggesting that teacher salaries and days/year worked are somehow "unfair"?

I am suggesting that the notion that teachers are "underpaid" is a fallacy.

 

[jasoutside]

Re: year round school???

I am suggesting that the notion that teachers are "underpaid" is a fallacy.

If a teacher feels he is under paid that's his own fault. He knew exactly what the pay rate was going in.

Moreover, he certainly has the opportunity change careers if he feels he's not being paid enough.




So long as we are making suggestions...



Paying educators less and making them work more is certainly not the solution to our issues in public education.

 

[Bigprairie1]

Re: year round school???

Interesting....


So fellas I gotta ask...Are you suggesting that teacher salaries and days/year worked are somehow "unfair"?
I always thought the US of A was a place where a man chooses his career (along with the benefits, or lack there of).
Maybe I'm wrong and we all need to "share the wealth"?

No, thats not it so much. I believe the teachers deserve a fair and equitable salary.
However sometimes things change and you have to review the way salaries, benefits, etc are determined, particularly in the heavily unionized PUBLIC sector.
The way people in the PRIVATE sector are starting to view this, is that these PUBLIC sector wages (ie: teachers) paid by the PRIVATE sector should be in financial step with the private sector's economic condition and associated averaging. The private sector has definitely taken a 'haircut' over the last 5+ years so it only makes sense that the systems it supports should follow suit on some level. Perhaps a review based on a 5 years past performance model would determine if public sector wages and benefits are due to go 'up' or even 'down'. It doesn't make sense that they only go up, while the general economy changes downwards....and who knows for how long. Reviewing this makes extremely good fiscal sense.
Think if you are a business owner with employees, and business starts to drop off....do you give raises? OR do you start to look at cutting hours, costs, perhaps wages, etc to 'keep the lights on and doors open'. Naturally, that is what you do.
If the employees want to continue staying employed during lean times they work with you on some level as the business owner to facilitate success through the lean times and ideally share in the good times when they re-appear.
Ok that said, NOW....if it is a PRIVATE sector union...they can pay whatever they like, its no skin off the public sector's nose.
My two bits.
BP

 

[bruceb58]

Re: year round school???

If a teacher feels he is under paid that's his own fault. He knew exactly what the pay rate was going in.

Moreover, he certainly has the opportunity change careers if he feels he's not being paid enough.

I totally agree with you.

 

[WIMUSKY]

Re: year round school???

Moreover, he certainly has the opportunity change careers if he feels he's not being paid enough.

That may be true in a good economy. But in todays, not so much.....

 

[jkust]

Re: year round school???

I won't delve into the teacher situation but will say here in MN where we have 9 months of cold and 3 of warmth, many local economies revolve around the lakes, the lake culture, based around 3 months off of school. It is a situation where the states should decide what makes sense for their state. Here in MN amazingly there are still a lot of farms as well.

 

[jasoutside]

Re: year round school???

That may be true in a good economy. But in todays, not so much.....

Well then my friend, he chooses to stay and be thankful he has a job

 

[WIMUSKY]

Re: year round school???

Well then my friend, he chooses to stay and be thankful he has a job

For right now, you bet...... Any of us who have a job, even if it's not perfect, should be glad we're at least employed.....

jkust is right. Mn, WI, Mi and other states depend on that summer tourist dollar. That's what gets a lot of businesses thru the winter. Those dollars and businesses will dwindle w/o it during the lean winter months. Speaking of farms, not only does S WI have a bunch, believe it or not N WI has a bunch too....

 

[nwcove]

Re: year round school???

Estimated Working days for BC teachers???

52 weeks in the year x 5 days per week = 260 possible working days before holidays ETC

now minus-

7 days spring break (working days)
10 days christmas break (working days)
8 days extra stat holidays (working days)
8 days pro D (no work truly gets done on these days)
40 days summer vacation (working days)

EST possible working time, 187 days per year.

can we add numerous " snow days" into that equation? if the kids miss 10 days of school due to storms, shouldnt they at least have to add ten days on in the summer....arent they missing ten days of a prescribed curriculum ?

 

[WIMUSKY]

Re: year round school???

Around here you're allowed X amount of snow days. Anything you take above that is made up in the spring.

 

[rbh]

Re: year round school???

can we add numerous " snow days" into that equation? if the kids miss 10 days of school due to storms, shouldnt they at least have to add ten days on in the summer....arent they missing ten days of a prescribed curriculum ?

HAHAHA, MMMM SNOW!!!!

It is actually kinda funny, around here we get big snow occasionaly but never the less it snows alot in the winter and we are used to it (the busses have chains even).
So we might see a snow day every 2-5 years.
Now you take the Vancouver/lower mainland/Vancouver island that rarely gets snow, but when one little hint of the white stuff hits all hell breaks loose and those kids are locked away in front of the boob tube faster than you can say XBOX!!

 

[nwcove]

Re: year round school???

Around here you're allowed X amount of snow days. Anything you take above that is made up in the spring.

thats the way its supposed to be here also, but after all the years of grade school for my kids, that rule has never been enacted. there have been numerous years where the kids did miss 10 or more days due to weather, and they allow for 5. i just find it odd that when a kid is home due to illness, he/she is expected to complete all the same work as if they were in attendance, but if they miss days due to weather, the work somehow goes away......and jmo, it should be added on in the spring as the educators dont show up to work either.

 

[aspeck]

Re: year round school???

Here is 180 days of school. Miss a day of school because of weather, loss of power, malfunction of physical plant, etc, you make up the day. There are 3 "holidays" scheduled that are for snow make up. After those days you make it up at the end.

 

[WIMUSKY]

Re: year round school???

They stick to the rule here. So the work doesn't go away, it's just delayed.

Our boys b-ball team went to state last year. They were going to give the kids a day off for the tourney. Well, it ended up being 2 since they knew nobody was going to show up anyway(We have a very small school. A large district in terms of square miles, but, lacking kids). They had to make up those 2 days in the spring even tho they still had snow days to give. I guess it fell under a different rule...

 

[nwcove]

Re: year round school???

HAHAHA, MMMM SNOW!!!!

It is actually kinda funny, around here we get big snow occasionaly but never the less it snows alot in the winter and we are used to it (the busses have chains even).
So we might see a snow day every 2-5 years.
Now you take the Vancouver/lower mainland/Vancouver island that rarely gets snow, but when one little hint of the white stuff hits all hell breaks loose and those kids are locked away in front of the boob tube faster than you can say XBOX!!

that is strangely comical, the last few winters here have been "non" winters, with the odd snow day, but in march, if theres a chance of snow, school is canceled , guess its the use it or loose it mentality. but all said, its the kids who ultimately suffer.

 

[ngt]

Re: year round school???

Average teacher salary in California is close to $70K and can reach to almost $90K in the bay area. This is for a job that is only for 9 months so that is equivalent to $100K/year.
http://www.sacbee.com/2011/01/26/99...hool-district.html?appSession=653323162887995

In California, the teachers pensions are so great that the pension system is $65 Billion underfunded. You can retire as early as age 50 depending on your years of service.

California needs to do what Wisconsin did.

Yeah, Maybe Marin, or something, but I'm in one of the top paying districts in my county in the Bay Area, and the top of the salary scale is around 70k, Starting teachers get about 42k. On top of that, our salaries that use to go up with cost of living, have been going down because of cuts and loss of teaching days. If this thing fails in November, teaching days could get cut down to 160 days. Not what I'd want for my son, no matter how the school year is set up.

As for people saying teachers knew what they got into when they went for a low paying job, don't complain about our summers. You knew teachers got a long summer when you chose not to be one.

Also, I've never seen a teacher retire at 50. My parents were both teachers and retired at 63. Most have to put in 30+ years and work past 60 to get their full retirement.

Last, do me a favor and stop sending me angry private messages. Lets keep this conversation friendly.

 

[rockyrude]

Re: year round school???

Well NGT I'll be the first to apologize for those who have chosen to take this thread to the dark side without having the stones to be public which I'm sure would get this thread immediately closed.