I just have to vent for a few minutes. My wife had a career before she decided to become a teacher. She took some time off when our daughter was born to be a stay at home mom. It worked for a while being 1 income. I was making good money as a production supervisor and we were very happy. The plant I worked at downsized and that left me scrambling, and I had to take various other jobs making less money. So when my daughter went back to school, my wife decided to get her teaching certificate. She already has a BS and MS in Counseling, so she just needed the certificate. We took out some student loans and she was awarded some scholarships and grants to help pay for it all.
She kept a 4.0 for the 2 years to get the certificate and was awarded a job almost immediately at a local city school. This has turned out to be one of the worst decisions we have made as a family.
We spent about $3,000 of our own money before she ever received a paycheck getting her room in order. She had a desk, a computer, and the kids desks, and that was basically it. Posters, teaching supplies, cleaning supplies, extra seating, decorations, a working printer we paid for all out of pocket. We knew that going into it, its no secret teachers pay for most of their own supplies.
One might think that teaching hours are pretty good, and maybe for some they are, but not here. She has to be at work by 7:00 AM, no big deal a lot of jobs require that. Her day is technically over at 3:15, but with only a 30 min planning period, the time after school is spent planning for the next day. She usually gets out around 4:30, again not a huge deal 9.5 hours is the work day for a lot of people. They eat lunch in the classroom due to COVID, so by the time they get their lunch from the cafeteria, get back to the classroom, and she assists with opening milks (they are little kids), and the assorted pouches the bring from home, and then clean up, she rarely if ever eats. We usually spend a partial weekend day at the school getting ready for the next week, along with most nights grading or creating something. I help when and where I can. She has started taking prescribed adderal to help get more time out of the day.
The administration at this school is a joke, the principal couldn't lead their way out of a paperbag. They (I am not using proper pronouns to protect my wife), bow down to the parents and blame everything on the teachers. A parent called today during teaching hours, in the middle of a lesson, and the secretary forwarded the call to the in room phone. They wanted a conference next week. My wife already has 17 scheduled for that day and couldn't give her time that second, you know, because she was doing her job. The parent then went to the principal and complained that she was being rude and unwelcoming to her request. My wife then gets brought into his office and gets told she probably just isn't a good fit for this school. She can't quit because the school system will sue her for breach of contract and will pull her license to teach. Most days she comes home in tears or near tears and goes straight to bed. The plan has been to get to the end of the year and quit so I can move to 1st shift and she goes back to stay at home mom duties and possibly subs. I worry she won't make it that long.
I don't see why anyone would go into the profession at this point in history. Little pay, little resources, little respect. Sorry for venting, but there is no one else I can talk about this with.
She kept a 4.0 for the 2 years to get the certificate and was awarded a job almost immediately at a local city school. This has turned out to be one of the worst decisions we have made as a family.
We spent about $3,000 of our own money before she ever received a paycheck getting her room in order. She had a desk, a computer, and the kids desks, and that was basically it. Posters, teaching supplies, cleaning supplies, extra seating, decorations, a working printer we paid for all out of pocket. We knew that going into it, its no secret teachers pay for most of their own supplies.
One might think that teaching hours are pretty good, and maybe for some they are, but not here. She has to be at work by 7:00 AM, no big deal a lot of jobs require that. Her day is technically over at 3:15, but with only a 30 min planning period, the time after school is spent planning for the next day. She usually gets out around 4:30, again not a huge deal 9.5 hours is the work day for a lot of people. They eat lunch in the classroom due to COVID, so by the time they get their lunch from the cafeteria, get back to the classroom, and she assists with opening milks (they are little kids), and the assorted pouches the bring from home, and then clean up, she rarely if ever eats. We usually spend a partial weekend day at the school getting ready for the next week, along with most nights grading or creating something. I help when and where I can. She has started taking prescribed adderal to help get more time out of the day.
The administration at this school is a joke, the principal couldn't lead their way out of a paperbag. They (I am not using proper pronouns to protect my wife), bow down to the parents and blame everything on the teachers. A parent called today during teaching hours, in the middle of a lesson, and the secretary forwarded the call to the in room phone. They wanted a conference next week. My wife already has 17 scheduled for that day and couldn't give her time that second, you know, because she was doing her job. The parent then went to the principal and complained that she was being rude and unwelcoming to her request. My wife then gets brought into his office and gets told she probably just isn't a good fit for this school. She can't quit because the school system will sue her for breach of contract and will pull her license to teach. Most days she comes home in tears or near tears and goes straight to bed. The plan has been to get to the end of the year and quit so I can move to 1st shift and she goes back to stay at home mom duties and possibly subs. I worry she won't make it that long.
I don't see why anyone would go into the profession at this point in history. Little pay, little resources, little respect. Sorry for venting, but there is no one else I can talk about this with.
