The jumping off discussion area for the rest of the Deck. All things Lakewood.
Please check out our other sections. As we refile many discussions from the past into
their proper sections please check them out and offer suggestions.
All three collective bargaining agreements are public records but, unfortunately, they are not updated on the State Employment Relations Board’s website.
I contacted both Superintendent P. Joseph Madak and Treasurer Rick Berdine to obtain updated copies so that I can post them on the Deck for your review and consideration. Dr. Madak, Mr. Berdine, and I have no problem providing you with these public records so they are attached.
All three bargaining units agreed to take a zero pay raise on the base. I believe that this agreement evidences that the Lakewood Teachers Association, OAPSE 129, and OAPSE 134 understand the economic climate facing our Community and are willing to provide the Board and Administration with the financial flexibility to ensure an excellent education for our children.
You seem to be the only member of the school board who is willing to publicly defend the school levy. If they are so confident their path is the correct path why are they so hesitent to support the levy? Are they ashamed of their decision?
On the local level I quite often vote for people who I don't agree with because they understand where they are sitting and why they are sitting there. Nickie Antonio comes to mind. anyway...
Perhaps the Gieger leftovers are still operating under the assumption that an ignorant electorate is preferable to an informed electorate.
I'm sure the teachers, administrators and their supporters appreciate your public support of the school levy. I appreciate your willingness to publicly defend your decision.
The LTA contract contains a section on teacher work load.
It states that a teachers work load is not to exceed 7 1/2 hours per day (including lunch). There is also a section that prohibits "teacher contact with students more than 5 hours per day".
I would think that one way to increase productivity and performance would be for teachers to spend more time with students. Why pay a teacher $80,000 per year plus benefits to teach 5 hours per day? Would 6 hours be beyond the pale?
That particular argument is the one that really gets to me. What you don't understand is that when a teacher is with a student all the admin duties of a teacher are not getting done. They have lesson plans to write, homework to grade, tests to make, etc, etc. That alone takes a very large amount of time. When someone who has never taught reads that a teacher has limitations to contact to students the immediate response is to question it because it seems that contact with students is all the should have. There is just a LOT more to it than that. Being a teacher is NOT an easy job and is very stressful. A majority of them are very dedicated and want nothing more than to see students succeed. If you haven't done it or been close to someone who has it's hard to understand the demands.
I think we probably should pay teachers $80,000 a year to teach students 5 hours a day. Currently, it would seem that most are paid in the range of $40,000 and spend far in excess of 5 hours a day with all kinds of student involvement. Stan Austin
While a few teachers having PhD level educational qualifications, or having many years of classroom experience, may make higher salaries, the vast majority of teachers make much less money that the 80k that has been alluded to. Starting salaries vary from district to district, but often range from the mid 20's to the mid 30's. In fact, in many communities, a teacher having a family of four will actually qualify for government assistance! Remember too, that teachers are paid a daily rate, and are not normally paid for days off, or for summer breaks.
The 5 hour daily contact time also does not normally include necessary time for lesson planning, school conferences, grading papers, parent evening phone conferences, and the many extra student activities that often occur in the evenings or on weekends.
Extra-curricular activities, like coaching, can be offered to teachers as paid stipends, but very often, teachers will volunteer hundreds of hours, and hundreds of out-of-pocket dollars of their own; over the course of a school year.
In fact, I wish that there would be a better way for the public to be aware of the tremendous community resource that their teachers are. The community value received is so much more than is generally realized, I do believe.
Gym teachers have to turn in lesson plans, give written tests and are held to the same accountability standards as other teachers. Just because you don't understand it Dee, doesn't mean it's easy.
This is one of the many things the Deck is good for. This is the type of stuff you wouldn't learn by talking to the average joe. The information is posted, it is read, and an opinion is formed. Transparency, dialogue, and action. Not trying to sound like OB at all, but I hope this is only the beginning.
Kudos to all.
"Hey Kiddo....this topic is much more important than your football photos, so deal with it." - Mike Deneen
Firstly, I retired in 2005, and no one whom I knew in teaching, (especially me!) made anywhere near that 80k figure. I did know a few who, with their supplemental checks, hit the 70's, but they certainly had to work long extra hours for it.
Gym teachers, along with teachers in other disciplines, need to take rigorous specialized training and re-training and certification over the years; because of the new information that comes along all the time. One example that comes to mind is training in AED machines (de-fib heart saving devices) In my district, for example, all teachers had to receive that training.
Gym (better called "physical education") instructors, are presently at the cutting edge in the war against America's national crisis with obesity. They help to prepare young people for a lifetime of good healthy habits with state-of-the-art physical training.
Along with that, they need to be ready for all kinds of trouble that can occur as a result of physical activities.
Case in point... I remember hearing about a story of when students were in a ball game, and one student accidentally cut his thumb. You would think that to be a minor situation, but immediately, arterial blood spurting revealed a life-threatening accident that was quickly handled at the time by the trained instructor. The student went to the hospital immediately, of course, but quick thinking and state-of-the-art first aid training certainly helped the situation to resolve.
All school subjects are important... for very good reasons...and so are their teachers; as well as the training they receive...
At Harding and then at Lakewood High I would have to say that my coaches (aka gym teachers) were some of the most inspirational teachers that I had. (So was a certain band and orchestra teacher named Mr. Rice at Harding)
A good coach has to have equal abilities of any teacher in order to have his or her students succeed. And, it has been shown that those who participate in athletics do better in academic subjects than those who don't.
And, back to that bugaboo about hours worked--- coaching has to be THE most time intensive activity in our schools.
I have a question. Much is made of the fact that some teachers are paid only while school is in session (which leads me to think that comparing their salaries to other people who work year round is misleading, $42K for seven or eight months of work is a higher salary than $42K for twelve months, do the math). My first question is whether getting 8 paychecks or 12 paychecks is at the option of the employee; I think I would prefer the former, as I can budget, and could invest the amounts I was saving and come out a little ahead, but it appears this is a rare talent among Americans.
My second question is about the health plan. Are teachers covered only while school is in session, or does their coverage span the calendar year?
In many ways this is a difficult subject to discuss, because there is so much emotion involved. Any time someone has the temerity to assert that not all teachers are doing a good job, every teacher takes it as a personal attack.
In the same vein, assertions that teachers are working long hours writing lesson plans and grading homework are to be accepted at face value, and it is heresy to suggest that they recycle their lesson plans, and spend so much time grading homework because they resist technology that could lessen that burden. Assertions that teaching is the most stressful job, with no supporting evidence, are expected to be accepted. Questioning these assertions is viewed as a blood libel on all teachers.
Now we cannot question the value of physical education teachers, because they are on the cutting edge of our war on obesity; why can't we ask where they were in the years that obesity began to be a problem. It almost seems that we are counting on the people who lost the war to win the war!
Incidentally, coaches and physical education teachers are not the same thing. While some schools give a priority to teachers (not physical education teachers) for coaching positions, not all do. And not all are happy to trust their athletes to a teacher when a more skilled coach is available.
I don't see how we can ever approach a solution to the problems in our public schools if we keep telling people that they can't possibly know anything unless they are a teacher, and I question whether the spouse of a teacher has any expertise in the field.
Society in every state is a blessing, but the Government even in its best state is but a necessary evil...
