Why are we paying people to break the education system?

I'm sick and tired of paying school district administrators three times as much as the average teacher just so they can mis-manage the mis-education of my community.

Last August, the beginning of the 22/23 school year, my local school district begged every person who could possibly substitute to be a full-time teacher instead. It was the only way to fill the last dozen regular ed positions. In our small, rural district, we only have a total of 105 teachers, including SPED.

In early September 2022, the superintendent bragged to the local newspaper that every teacher position had been filled - which wasn't true! We lost so many SPED teachers that they had to use a subcontractor to provide SPED services - mostly via Zoom - and then they mainstreamed nearly every SPED kid that didn't wear diapers.

So, with nearly zero district subs left, how were classes covered this year? 7th through 12 grade teachers lost their prep periods. Elementary teachers had extra student guests nearly every day.

It was a change to the working conditions and the hard-fought contract was reopened. Teachers agreed to a higher class max, agreed to take extra students, and agreed to give up prep periods whenever necessary - all for a big bump in pay. Done and done, right?

NO. The pay bump wasn't enough. Teachers are leaving and there are no subs left to beg. Most of the subs who agreed to teach are not coming back EVER. Part of it is that we didn't have enough experienced teachers to provide proper mentoring. Classrooms, hallways, cafeterias, etc were chaos.

More and more parents switched to non-district options. One third of the district's student population no longer uses our district classrooms - and all indications are that the percent will rise.

There's ZERO behavior guidance or support. We claim in our yearly LCAP report to the state to have an active District-wide MTSS, but we don't. Total lie! Nine years ago we took the grant money to provide one and simply didn't follow through. According to our district's Education Coordinator, "It's up to each teacher to provide a class system of PBIS until the district can implement a District-wide program." Yet we've been telling the state we already have one for the last eight years.

My district's best hope for next year is that enough parents choose non-district options so that they no longer need people to fill all the open positions.

How is that particular plan good for my community? Why are we paying people to break the public education system?

Submitted June 01, 2023 at 10:45AM by MantaRay2256 https://ift.tt/Nm1ZjRw