I can't count the number of times my daughter's homeroom teacher was absent this year, and same with my son's core teacher. The school is effectively paying two teachers -- the regular one and the sub, each time a teacher is off school. Absenteeism has been epidemic amongst the teachers at this school all year. Sometimes it's illness -- but other times it has been 'seminars' etc. -- professional upgrades that I thought were supposed to be done either on 'Professional Development Days' or during the summer. Such doesn't seem to be the case at this school.
This week, my daughter's homeroom teacher told the kids they had to have all of their assignments in by May 29th because marks go in on the 31st for report cards. My daughter asked 'if the marks go in on May 31st why do we have to come to school until the end of June?'
The teacher's answer? 'That's not an appropriate question. Let's move on to something appropriate.'
The question my daughter asked was a valid one. The teacher's problem is that there is no valid answer.
There are 29 school days left -- of them, 13 can be used to teach and evaluate -- what are the rest for? Why do we send our kids to school in the month of June? I know in the past my oldest two kids couldn't hand in work past June 10th and I thought that was bad -- but May 31st?
Public schools should be run like high school -- the marks should be submitted to the office on the last day of school and report cards should be prepared and mailed in the summer. As it is the last month of school is spent with kids washing desks and taking down the classroom decor and teachers assigning busy-work that has no affect on grades. The Board of Ed. knows this, but they and the teachers continue to pretend that the teachers are working in June -- because if they weren't, there would be no reason to pay them.
In June, many elementary school teachers will become $4,000/month daycare providers. We'd do well to remember this the next time they're whining about prep time and classroom hours.
canadianna
10 comments:
Speaking of schools: In B.C. they've just capped class sizes, as a capitulation to the union. I was listening to Ken Denike, the Chair of the Vancouver School Board and he commented on what he called the '$60,000.00 child', i.e., having to create a whole new class due to the fact they're one over this artificial limit; not to mention the logistical nightmare of having to ensure there's not more that 3 special-needs-kids in any one classroom.
substitute teachers can strike? That's a new one on me :S
me too - welcome back!
WELCOME BACK!!! I really missed your posts!! Please tell me you're back for awhile? Also did you get my SSM paper that you wanted me to email you?
Welcome back.
Several points from the perspective of the husband of a Grade 5 teacher in the U.S. with 27 years experience...
1. Her exam period is in days 170-172 of the 180-day school year. Grades have to be complete by day 179. Post-exam days often include a field trip.
2. She has averaged (averaged, mind you) 5 or 6 special-needs kids per year. When it gets above 7 per year, she gets an aide.
3. She's had as many as 35 kids in her homeroom and as few as 25. The numbers have tended to be higher when she gets the high-ability class and lower when she gets a lower group. (In her school, the assignments are rotated.)
4. What usually happens when a school hits overloads on class sizes is that attendance districts are redrawn to rebalance the load. For the past few years, it's been done every year at the elementary level.
The stuff you're talking about, C, wouldn't be tolerated in my wife's district, even though her union is pretty strong.
Again, good to see you back out here in the world. Take care.
YAY you are back! And thanks for explaining all the field trips my daughter takes in June, although they are in the last two weeks, not so much the first two. Provincial exams are all in May, though, hmmmmm...
And her school is different in that there is a waiting list for kids to get in, so if a child fails, they are at the very least transferred to another school, and according to my daughter, a boy in her class last year WAS failed (although it's an IB school, so maybe he was transferred to a non-IB school and passed as the curriculum isn't as difficult?).
We spent 2 weeks in Vancouver sourcing documents and negotiating with offialdom in helping register grandchild in school (single parent). Two weeks later, teachers were on strike.
Ontario Premier McGuinty, who has been leading an in-your-face government,was voted in with a large union support; his policies are greatly union-friendly (especially teachers); his wife is a teacher.
Listen to CFRA 580 interview from this morning-
"Steve Madely is joined by Frank Klees, Conservative MPP for Oak Ridges, and Education Critic, to discuss Bill 78, that will hand over control of the Ontario College of Teachers, which oversees the teaching profession, to the teacher unions"
http://www.cfra.com/chum_audio/Frank_Klees_May16.mp3
...sorry for the technical glitch. Can't say as I can fix it in short order.
madmacs -- I saw something about that on Global News last night. Appalling.
Bob -- Our unions are sooo powerful here, we daren't criticise teachers. Many are great, but just as many should be turfed, but won't be because parents like me complain anonymously.
Thanks for the warm greetings everone -- and Sharon -- loved your paper and I'll be emailing you shortly.
welcome back Canadianna! nice shot at the daycare by the way..
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