The Life and Times of Teachers

People get upset and want action on many things, some of which are not that important in the scope of things. People get upset when they think certain people are getting away with something. For some reason, some people think teachers are living the life. I beg to differ. They target the wrong group of people. Teachers are the low men on the pyramid. They hold everyone up, but get little for it in terms of perks and rewards. A few years ago a newscast gave information about the layoff of educators in Dallas because of a $64 million or more mistake, but nobody seemed to be that upset except the teachers and students. No one was calling for the superintendent to be gone.

It seems the superintendent, the associate and assistant superintendents, the financial officer and last but not least the elected school board couldn't add and/or subtract. I wonder if they could pass TAKS. The school board had decided that the superintendents' job description should be changed. I certainly hoped so; he should not be allowed to be around money. Remember when you worked at the store and they checked your register each night. You could get fired for being under a few dollars, but $64 million-can you say federal penitentiary. Let a teacher be a couple of dollars short with the candy money.

The board at this time had decided not to fire the superintendent and I agreed. I thought his punishment should be that he would be treated as a teacher--he should get teacher pay. He could even get a 30 year teachers pay. It should be about $70,000. I'm just guessing so let's give him $75,000. He makes over $300,000 in his current position not counting perks.

When he travels, he should travel like teachers do. If more than one person is traveling to a conference and/or meeting, the teachers must share a room. He could share a room with another superintendent and save money for another school district. Did I forget to mention that he must stay in a hotel room that costs less than $90 per night if he does happen to travel alone if he is a teacher? Then there is Per Diem. Per Diem for teachers is about $6 to $8 for breakfast, $8 to $12 for lunch and $12 to $15 for dinner. By the way if the conference is providing a continental breakfast and/or lunch teachers don't get money for those meals. There will be no steak today on that budget. They should also take away his district credit card-teachers don't get one.

They should take away his district cell phone and car. Teachers don't get these perks. He should be treated just like a teacher. When he can't make it to work, he should call in and report the absence. He should have to report at least 15 minutes before the start of the day and stay at least 15 minutes after the end of the day. He should have no longer than 45 minutes for lunch and in most cases it's only 30 minutes. If the district is on A/B block schedule, he should not have any off time on one of those days-teachers don't. He should be required to return phone calls to all parents who have questions and concerns. He should be required to speak with parents even when they don't have an appointment-again teachers do.

He should be required to bring proof that he was sick doing an absence of more than two consecutive days. He should get only one day for death of an immediate family member (that's what you get in some districts). He should be required to take an entire day off when he has a doctor's appointment that will last all of 45 minutes.

Teachers are treated differently and the good ones don't do it for the money. If they think they are making big money, then they too should join the higher ups in the district who can't add and/or subtract. Perks for good teachers are students that are doing well.