LONG ISLAND BULLETIN BOARD

I just looked at the teacher salaries. It’s crazy. They win, I’m moving!

Like any job, the longer you are there, the more money you make. As time goes by, an employee becomes an asset to a company (or in this case a school). Each year they are there, they bring with them more experience. This is why companies give raises each year to their employess, (They value them and the work they do, and pay to keep them.) Keep in mind that teachers must continue their education and get masters degrees and pay for classes with their own money to keep their certification. If you work in a regular job, the company sends you to training and pays for your classes and gives you a raise regardless. Teachers starting salaries are less than any other profession in the business world. After coming out of college, why would anyone want to be a teacher when they can get a job in a nice office starting out making more money? Why take a lower paying job and then work all day teaching, and then have to go to take night classes (paid out of own pocket) to get a masters degree so that they can keep their certification to continue to teach? These teachers that make the higher salaries have been there for years and have many years of schooling under their belt(That they paid for themselves). Like any smart employer, it would make sense to pay them what they have worked so hard for and the experience they bring to the table. -And no I am not a teacher, I am just a man in the business world that understands salaries.

I'd like to know what's ridiculous? How much would you like a teacher to earn? Better yet, would you rather your children were taught by someone who was underpaid (and therefore didn't care?) or someone who was fairly compensated and gave 110% to their job. My wife teaches in the Sachem district, and puts in 10-12 hour days between teaching, lesson prep, and grading. Now factor in the problem children who threaten and insult, or just plain disrupt the class and prevent others from learning. Then when the teacher calls home, he/she gets a blown off by the parents (who will then be the first ones screaming at the teacher when their kid comes home with an unacceptable grade!)
Did you know a teacher was attacked by a student at a Sachem school this year? How much is that worth?
How about this: You want the best teachers, and you live in the third most expensive area in the country to raise a family, yet you don't want to pay for them. How is that fair? Ever hear the term you get what you pay for?
Here's another thing, how much would it be worth to you to have your child taking a regents class with a teacher whose passing rate is 96% over the past 4 years? Or would you rather have NYC's problem, where there aren't enough qualified teachers to go around, let alone teachers who's only had to fail a student once in 4 years.

It's not the money. Socrates never made 140,000 sheckies in his life, yet we still apply the Socratic method of teaching.