<p>The main reason I was never interested in home-schooling was that teachers made a huge difference in my life. A parent never knows when an interest of a child might be sparked and it is often a teacher who causes the spark.</p>
<p><<< So back to merit increases- it appears that it is not the norm in this profession even in non-public schools.
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<p>I would imagine that in independently-run private schools, there probably is merit pay to keep its best teachers from going elsewhere. However, in schools run by Catholic dioceses, they tend to use the “pay schedule” method. My kids’ high school has a absolutely fab AP Cal teacher (grad of UChicago). I think if she ever got a better offer somewhere else, the diocese would find some way to keep her financially happy.</p>
<p>But, either way, they all can fire at will…and they do when pressured to do so. My sons’ 3 Catholic schools have fired about 8-10 teachers over a period of 15 years. And, in each case, every teacher deserved to be fired … (One teacher stupidly told her class of 5th graders that she considered having an abortion when she thought her baby might have downs syndrome (further tests were negative, so she had the baby.). Who says that in a Catholic school? And, who talks about such personal matters to 5th graders in ANY school??? Obviously this gal has no idea of boundaries and such between kids and teachers!).</p>
<p>The main reason I was never interested in home-schooling was that teachers made a huge difference in my life. A parent never knows when an interest of a child might be sparked and it is often a teacher who causes the spark.</p>
<p>Prescisely why I was interested in home schooling. I knew no one was ever going to care or be interested in my kids more than I was myself.
I wouldnt have other parents or admin to answer to, and we would have more flexibility than we would if they were in a classroom.</p>
<p>We ultimately opted for private school for a good chunk of their education- and from the many private schools that have opened or expanded in our area in the last 15 years, we are not the only ones.</p>
<p>Districts around the country really vary- but I think this area supports teacher salary quite well, especially in comparison to the businesses which are now based in other states/countries that used to employ Puget Sound workers.</p>
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<p>How many other industries give out such generous pay increases with little connection to job performance?</p>
<p>Re merit raises, frankly, advancement in salary and rank in the private sector is far less merit-based than some have asserted.
I was a top corporate executive and several large companies and I can tell you that at all of them, employee surveys constantly said merit did not play a large enough role. Aside from the many people who just rise on the basis of politics, few managers are willing to fire, demote or withhold raises altogether from poor performers. Accordingly, when the overall raise budget is 3%, you find stars getting 4% and poor performers 2%, which infuriates the stars.</p>
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<p>Against my advice (and that of his favorite sixth grade teacher), my S is actively seeking the educ world…</p>
<p>Damn it the world is only suppose to have doctors and lawyers! How are we going to deal with these meddling “teachers”.</p>
<p>Emerald: This article might explain what do seem to be pretty hefty pay raises: [Local</a> News | Seattle teachers to receive raises of 9-10% | Seattle Times Newspaper](<a href=“http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/localnews/2008224245_teacherpay03m0.html]Local”>http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/localnews/2008224245_teacherpay03m0.html) </p>
<p>It sounds like the 10% raise was to make them competitive with other local school districts.</p>
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<p>I think it’s funny that when educators get a COLA increase, they don’t consider it a raise. In the private sector, can you imagine saying to your boss…this is just my COLA, now where is my raise?<br>
LOL</p>
<p>unfortunately the raises put the district in a financial hole and not only did teachers have to be laid off , but schools had to be closed.</p>
<p>I just wanted to say…</p>
<p>We loved most of our kids teachers…really, really loved them. 
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<p>We don’t demand/expect that each teacher be absolutely fabulous…being a “good” teacher is good enough for us. </p>
<p>The fact that a small handful were nutty, lazy, unfair, dumb, or just plain annoying is just part of dealing with any profession. Teachers shouldn’t take it personally that most of us have had some bad experiences with a few teachers. If I were a nurse, I would accept the fact that there are some bad nurses, and I wouldn’t take it personally if I heard people talk about some crazy experience with a nurse (or a flight attendant - haven’t we all had a weird experience with a flight attendant at one time???)</p>
<p>The frustrating thing is that when a parent has a legitimate complaint about a teacher, the principal often goes into total denial (even if others have told him the same complaint). This doesn’t happen in other professions. If several different customers say…“Your employee did (appalling behavior),” that employee would be “talked to” or fired.</p>
<p>Good teachers should be happy when bad teachers are corrected or fired; it protects the integrity of their profession.</p>
<p>The frustrating thing is that when a parent has a legitimate complaint about a teacher, the principal often goes into total denial (even if others have told him the same complaint).</p>
<p>This is what I don’t understand.
For example my daughter had an IEP and certain protocols are mandated by federal law. One of them is regular testing & evaluation to insure that the education plan is being followed and that it is effective, this is to occur at least as often as marking periods for other students- every qtr or semester.</p>
<p>THis was not being done for my daughter- for a period of over two years despite my complaints to the teacher, to the principal to the district and to the state.</p>
<p>Instead of having my daughter assessed qtrly, allowing for corrections to be made to IEP during the school year when it would have made a difference, she was assessed at the end of the school year- and was shown to have made zero progress. The teacher replied " I don’t think that is accurate".</p>
<p>THe school was getting federal and state money to address her IEP, but it went into the general fund, because " IEP students are part of the school too" ( I know this for a fact because I was a non voting member of the budget committee)</p>
<p>Her special ed teacher was far from mediocre, she was sloppy with details, but actually had some good qualities, she just shouldn’t have been assigned to special education because in my experience, students need clear expectations and follow through & she wasn’t able to keep that up.</p>
<p>I kept pushing on the district, to make teachers follow the IEPs, but at the same time, I hired tutors to work with D, so that she wouldn’t leave middle school so far behind.
Even though they couldn’t produce the documents legally required to receive IDEA money, the district investigators denied my claims to have the money I spent on tutoring reimbursed, because " she didn’t need it".</p>
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<p>That sounds like fraud; they should have been reported, even if you had to wait until your child left that school.</p>
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<p>I am. Both kids.</p>
<p>Regardless of the complaints, it is the best career in the world.</p>
<p>Pageturner, good for you. It doesn’t surprise me that you’re encouraging your kids to become teachers. One of my Ds is a teacher who loves her job. She’s been working with kids in a variety of ways since she was in high school. She continued while in college and grad school. She was a top student all the way through her own education, and I can’t tell you the number of people who have said to me “oh, but she could have been a _______”. All I can say is that I’m very proud of her for choosing such a wonderful profession. My question was meant for the many, both here and elsewhere, who complain about how much teachers are paid, about how short their workday is, about how great their benefits are, about how much vacation time they get. If teachers have it so easy and with great pay and benefits, I wonder why those people never went into teaching, and better yet, why they’re not encouraging their kids to do so.</p>
<p>I really haven’t seen too many complaints here about how much teachers are paid, except for the belief that certain teachers shouldn’t be paid at all. I was surprised to learn, though, how much teachers are paid in some areas; I thought most were paid quite a bit less (and maybe most are).</p>
<p>Around here the big complaint is not about teachers’ salaries, but rather their extremely generous benefits which are out of sync with the economic realities of the community they work in. Of these, health benefits are the major beef. Our teachers can insure themselves and their entire families for NOTHING. I don’t think there are many middle class people in the private sector who don’t have to pay something–usually quite a lot–for their health insurance. Isn’t $300 or more a month a typical outlay for a family? Also, who else can retire fully vested after only 25 years of work?</p>
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<p>I had to laugh at your above words…</p>
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<p>OMG…in some areas of the country, teachers are well paid. Many are approaching 6 figure salaries, and in some districts, some are earning 6 figures. Many continue to add certifications or more degrees to their resumes which boosts their salaries.</p>
<p>The benefits are very, very generous which also give teachers more cash in their pockets. Compensation viewed as pay + benefits is appropriate these days in my opinion. My company has raised the health care from about $50 a month out of my paycheck 8 years ago to over $500 per month last year to insure my family of 5.</p>
<p>RE: #174 - This reminded me of my next-door neighbor, who taught in a different school district. One day she was absolutely livid about her job. It turned out that the teachers were going to have to work on Saturdays. My wife and I who were both self-employed said that we often had to work on Saturdays (and Sundays) also. When we asked her how often she would have to work Saturdays, she said “once”. We asked “Once a month?” She said “No, once a year”. But then she retired at full pay in a few years at age 55.</p>