more greedy teachers go on strike

[sammyg2]

Here's an interesting story, they won't accept a 2% increase per year, even though they are making on average well over $50 per hour! Oh sure, it's all about the kids. BS, it's all about their lazy butts wanting more money.

GARY, Indiana -- Unionized school bus drivers refused to cross picket lines Wednesday on the first day of school as striking teachers carried protest signs and handed out fliers to parents in the first work stoppage in the district in 22 years.

Teachers carrying signs that read "No Contract, No Work" picketed at Gary Westside High School, the largest school in the district of 16,000 pupils. Teachers, who have not had a contract since December 2004, last staged a strike in 1984.

Gary Community Schools Corporation officials said they expected a full day of classes, with substitute teachers and administrators filling in for the strikers.

"We are going ahead with business as usual," spokesman Eric D. Johnson said.

Teacher Foster Stephens, who was part of the negotiating team, said both sides are still talking.

"I'm very optimistic something [will be] done today," he said. "I hope so."

The district struggles with discipline problems and one of the state's highest poverty rates while also having some of the lowest scores on standardized tests among Indiana's schools. The district also has had small increases in state funding as the estimated number of pupils for this school year is down from some 22,000 a decade ago.

School officials have offered 2 percent salary increases for 2006 and 2007, while teachers' shares of health insurance premiums would rise from 7 percent to 10 percent. State figures show that Gary teachers had an average salary of $52,433 last school year, about $5,000 more than the statewide average.

More than 800 teachers and paraprofessionals voted Friday to strike.

Buses were dropping off children further away from the school than they normally would, as drivers refused to go onto school grounds.

[bryanthompson]

Teachers should be paid what they're worth, not what they can extort. Bad teachers should be fired, great teachers should make $100k. It'll never happen.

[Superman]

I actually agree with Bryan.

Also, I always think it is interesting when certain people look at a situation where things are not going well (discipline problems, low standardized test scores), and suggest we reduce funding.

$52.433 over a 2000-hour work year comes to just over $26 per hour. Over a 1500-hour work year, the hourly figure is $35. If you use a 1000-hour work year assumption, then you can get to $50 per hour, but you'd have to be ignorant of that industry to assume teachers work only 1000 hours per year.

I also wonder if folks notice that 2% is substantially below inflation. I wonder if folks understand that changing workers' share of health insurance premiums from 7% to 10% means this 2% figure gets eaten by health insurance premiums, along with some wage dollars. The school district is apparently offering teachers a pay CUT.

[cashflyer]

Gary is a humid, dirty, hole of an area that once had the distinction of having the highest crime rate in the country. In other words, prime Union territory.

[expat]

Originally posted by bryanthompson
Teachers should be paid what they're worth, not what they can extort. Bad teachers should be fired, great teachers should make $100k. It'll never happen.

Yeah I agree! Just like every other fricking industry right!




I've been teaching for 17 years. I make $42,000 yr. and that's in LALA land where it's insanely expensive to live. The bad teacher thing is no different than the bad doctor, lawyer, builder, plumber, electrician, account, nurse, engineer, car dealer, porsche driver..............there's some bad ones amongst the good.

[masraum]

Teachers make crap, especially with what they have to put up with.

[bryanthompson]

expat, how hard is it to fire a bad teacher out where you live? I'm guessing it's even harder out in Cali than it is here in Nebraska. Bad teachers don't get fired, it just doesn't happen unless there's some obvious abuse of power or indecent activity.

A bad doctor wouldn't be able to cure patients, a bad lawyer would lose cases, bad builders would have crappy buildings, etc. In all of these other cases, the bad _whatever_ doesn't get hired again, or they get fired. This isn't the case with teachers. Bad teachers can't teach, and there is no effort to find out which teachers are effective, and which ones aren't--the union wouldn't have it.

[gaijindabe]

Who retires with more than half pay after 30 years??? The unions are controlled by the older teachers - they load all the goodies into the retirement packages while new teachers starve.

[expat]

Originally posted by bryanthompson
expat, how hard is it to fire a bad teacher out where you live? I'm guessing it's even harder out in Cali than it is here in Nebraska. Bad teachers don't get fired, it just doesn't happen unless there's some obvious abuse of power or indecent activity.

A bad doctor wouldn't be able to cure patients, a bad lawyer would lose cases, bad builders would have crappy buildings, etc. In all of these other cases, the bad _whatever_ doesn't get hired again, or they get fired. This isn't the case with teachers. Bad teachers can't teach, and there is no effort to find out which teachers are effective, and which ones aren't--the union wouldn't have it.

Yep it can be really hard to get rid of bad teachers. I wish this would get worked out.

Bad doctors etc - there's tons of them. My wife works for a doctor who is very financially successful but he is an A##$@ to his staff. An accountant we had last year failed to increase deductions (despite our written request) to take into consideration an increase in salary so we ended up paying more in tax at the end of the year than expected.....

[expat]

Originally posted by gaijindabe
Who retires with more than half pay after 30 years??? The unions are controlled by the older teachers - they load all the goodies into the retirement packages while new teachers starve.

Too true I think. Many of the older teachers are screwing things up. They are not motivated and block new and inspiring teachers.

[expat]

A quick search of the Gary issue, bring this....

"Teachers at Gary’s Brunswick Elementary School don’t think a contract is too much to ask. So they’re on strike to let people know they’ve been without one since December 2004. "

Now not too many people are going to be happy working without a contract. I know in Oz I had this problem. It was very stressful not to have any certainty about your employment when you had a mortgage to pay....

As to the pay deal...

"While the district did offer teachers a 1 percent pay raise, Irons said “they then turned around and said we had to pay 10 percent (instead of 7) on the health insurance.”


Seems like the money issue is only a part of the striking issue. There's issues surrounding curriculum, a half hour lunch break and safety issues too apparently.

This was missed in the first post so thought it would be worth clarifying.

Amazing how editorials (either in this thread or in newspapers) don't always provide the full details.

[stevepaa]

Originally posted by gaijindabe
Who retires with more than half pay after 30 years??? The unions are controlled by the older teachers - they load all the goodies into the retirement packages while new teachers starve.

actually most people working for big businesses have a pension plan like that

and as you say the older control the union implies there are more older teachers than young which makes the average pay much higher than the mean, the mean is probably around 35K .

Yeah, they sure are overpaid.

[nostatic]

these disputes rarely hinge on money. Benefits (or lack thereof) and curricular issues are usually at the top of the list. And sadly, safety in the classroom...

[nostatic]

And how do you get $50/hr? Many teachers I know work about 50-60 hour weeks, and many of them spend their own money on classroom supplies.

[TerryBPP]

Florida teachers need a raise. I know 3 women who make under 30k a yr teaching middle and highschool. Thats poverty level!!!!

[nota]

let the kids rate the teachers
to cut the deadwood and get better people in their place

swing shifts so they need less schools
school like higher learning Us should run 6am to 10pm
that would allow more part time teachers
and less drop outs and more working kids
fire 3/4 of the admin who are over paid and do little usefull work

the right to strike is important and should not be limited by the state

[nostatic]

kids rate the teachers? great...let's turn things into even more of a popularity contest.

*more* part time teachers? I'm sure that will raise the level of competency...

Trimming admin? All for it. The devil is in the details though...

[Eric 951]

Originally posted by nostatic
And how do you get $50/hr? Many teachers I know work about 50-60 hour weeks, and many of them spend their own money on classroom supplies.

Exactly. And teaching public school in Gary Indiana is no picnic.

[Porsche-O-Phile]

AND a lot of them only get paid 9 months out of the year. They get their summers off, but there's no money coming in either.

[scottmandue]

Originally posted by nostatic
And how do you get $50/hr? Many teachers I know work about 50-60 hour weeks, and many of them spend their own money on classroom supplies.

I don't know where people come up with these crazy numbers. My friend who worked as a secretary at Mc Donald Douglas that became Hughs that became Boeing went to night school for years to become a teacher (her dream). After one year of teaching for low pay, taking work home every night, and having to buy her own supplies she took her job at Boeing back.