The destruction of America's public education system

[Biff Tannen 45710]

17 minutes ago, Mole said:

In the military, chaplains fill a vital role for maintaining the spiritual health of young people — of all and no faiths — facing the stress of operating in an absurd and abusive bureaucracy with enemy combatants lurking around every corner. How are schools different?

I believe this is satire. And sad. Right?

[Mole 4333]

19 minutes ago, Biff Tannen said:

I believe this is satire. And sad. Right?

Sad, yes. Satire? Where’s the exaggeration?

[Mole 4333]

33 minutes ago, softlynow said:

they need advanced tactical training and equipment.

That pairs well with field training on how to handle a sucking chest wound.

[Beau Vine 54377]

Don't forget that these will be gun-toting chaplains, the most ruthless souls in the state, ready to shoot down any potential threat to the children.  And illegal aliens.

[Stilicho 1402]

Fucking bananas and tailpipes.

[tchookem 3905]

In the military, chaplains fill a vital role for maintaining the spiritual health of young people — of all and no faiths — facing the stress of operating in an absurd and abusive bureaucracy with enemy combatants lurking around every corner. How are schools different?

These aren't chaplain-type chaplains. These are online-course-watched-the-training video-type chaplains.

[tchookem 3905]

It's also clear these idiots have ZERO clue about the roles counselors play in a school. I'd love to see one of these sub-mediocre men (and you know they're all going to be men) try to put together a master schedule and populate it with middle school students. Not the middle school I teach at... someone else's

[CooterBrown 18022]

It's also clear these idiots have ZERO clue about the roles counselors play in a school. I'd love to see one of these sub-mediocre men (and you know they're all going to be men) try to put together a master schedule and populate it with middle school students. Not the middle school I teach at... someone else's

Get the fuck outta here with all that learning bullshit. Ain’t hard to schedule the 3 pillars of education: guns, god, and Trump. Everything else is a waste of time.

[TexPx 2323]

So even if you don’t want anything to do with this bullshit you have to put to a vote? Another illustration of why you need to vote in these local elections.

SECTION 3. Each board of trustees of a school district and each governing body of an open-enrollment charter school shall take a record vote not later than six months after the effective date of this Act on whether to adopt a policy authorizing a campus of the district or school to employ or accept as a volunteer a chaplain under Chapter 23, Education Code, as added by this Act.

[Captainant 27726]

7 minutes ago, TexPx said:

So even if you don’t want anything to do with this bullshit you have to put to a vote? Another illustration of why you need to vote in these local elections.

SECTION 3. Each board of trustees of a school district and each governing body of an open-enrollment charter school shall take a record vote not later than six months after the effective date of this Act on whether to adopt a policy authorizing a campus of the district or school to employ or accept as a volunteer a chaplain under Chapter 23, Education Code, as added by this Act.

Short-notice, snap votes are a classic mechanism exploited by fascists to realize policy gains whenever they realize a workable majority

Edited May 11, 2023 by Captainant

[Beau Vine 54377]

 

[NWBuck 8581]

WaPo: An analysis of book challenges from across the nation shows the majority were filed by just 11 people

[NWBuck 8581]

Florida school bans Amanda Gorman’s inaugural poem after parental complaint

For the record, here's the poem in question:

When day comes, we ask ourselves, where can we find light in this never-ending shade?
The loss we carry. A sea we must wade.
We braved the belly of the beast.
We’ve learned that quiet isn’t always peace, and the norms and notions of what “just” is isn’t always justice.
And yet the dawn is ours before we knew it.
Somehow we do it.
Somehow we weathered and witnessed a nation that isn’t broken, but simply unfinished.
We, the successors of a country and a time where a skinny Black girl descended from slaves and raised by a single mother can dream of becoming president, only to find herself reciting for one.
And, yes, we are far from polished, far from pristine, but that doesn’t mean we are striving to form a union that is perfect.
We are striving to forge our union with purpose.

(selectively spoilered for longcat)

Spoiler

To compose a country committed to all cultures, colors, characters and conditions of man.
And so we lift our gaze, not to what stands between us, but what stands before us.
We close the divide because we know to put our future first, we must first put our differences aside.
We lay down our arms so we can reach out our arms to one another.
We seek harm to none and harmony for all.
Let the globe, if nothing else, say this is true.
That even as we grieved, we grew.
That even as we hurt, we hoped.
That even as we tired, we tried.
That we’ll forever be tied together, victorious.
Not because we will never again know defeat, but because we will never again sow division.
Scripture tells us to envision that everyone shall sit under their own vine and fig tree, and no one shall make them afraid.
If we’re to live up to our own time, then victory won’t lie in the blade, but in all the bridges we’ve made.
That is the promise to glade, the hill we climb, if only we dare.
It’s because being American is more than a pride we inherit.
It’s the past we step into and how we repair it.
We’ve seen a force that would shatter our nation, rather than share it.
Would destroy our country if it meant delaying democracy.
And this effort very nearly succeeded.
But while democracy can be periodically delayed, it can never be permanently defeated.
In this truth, in this faith we trust, for while we have our eyes on the future, history has its eyes on us.
This is the era of just redemption.
We feared at its inception.
We did not feel prepared to be the heirs of such a terrifying hour.
But within it we found the power to author a new chapter, to offer hope and laughter to ourselves.
So, while once we asked, how could we possibly prevail over catastrophe, now we assert, how could catastrophe possibly prevail over us?
We will not march back to what was, but move to what shall be: a country that is bruised but whole, benevolent but bold, fierce and free.
We will not be turned around or interrupted by intimidation because we know our inaction and inertia will be the inheritance of the next generation, become the future.
Our blunders become their burdens.
But one thing is certain.
If we merge mercy with might, and might with right, then love becomes our legacy and change our children’s birthright.
So let us leave behind a country better than the one we were left.
Every breath from my bronze-pounded chest, we will raise this wounded world into a wondrous one.
We will rise from the golden hills of the West.
We will rise from the windswept Northeast where our forefathers first realized revolution.
We will rise from the lake-rimmed cities of the Midwestern states.
We will rise from the sun-baked South.
We will rebuild, reconcile, and recover.
And every known nook of our nation and every corner called our country, our people diverse and beautiful, will emerge battered and beautiful.

When day comes, we step out of the shade of flame and unafraid.
The new dawn balloons as we free it.
For there is always light, if only we’re brave enough to see it.
If only we’re brave enough to be it.

[Satchel 6948]

None of that will matter until The Ten Commandments are posted in every public school classroom in Texas. Thank ya Jaysus!

[WhatTheBuck 28797]

5 hours ago, NWBuck said:

WaPo: An analysis of book challenges from across the nation shows the majority were filed by just 11 people

11 angry Karens. 

[Fudge Nuggets 19211]

On 5/10/2023 at 7:10 PM, CooterBrown said:

Get the fuck outta here with all that learning bullshit. Ain’t hard to schedule the 3 pillars of education: guns, god, and Trump. Everything else is a waste of time.

You forgot the biggest pillar, football. 

[atomheartbevo 89777]

7 hours ago, Satchel said:

None of that will matter until The Ten Commandments are posted in every public school classroom in Texas. Thank ya Jaysus!

And bathrooms, don’t forget the bathrooms.  Republicans love them some bathrooms.

[SimonBolivar 10958]

Is Marlin ISD still being run by the TEA?

 

https://www.kwtx.com/2023/05/24/marlin-isd-considers-delaying-graduation-after-only-five-seniors-found-eligible-graduate/

 

Quote

MARLIN, Texas (KWTX) - The date of graduation for Marlin High School seniors remains up in the air after the district found a majority of them did not meet graduation requirements.

On Tuesday afternoon Marlin ISD told parents that the previously scheduled graduation practice will take place as planned on Wednesday. However, they have not yet made a decision on whether to move the scheduled Thursday graduation.

According to an audit from the district, only five out of the 33 Marlin High School seniors are eligible to graduate. The audit found that a majority of the Class of 2023 either didn’t complete or failed a required course, or had too many absences.

 

Edited May 24, 2023 by SimonBolivar

[Nice Guy Eddie 13521]

12 hours ago, NWBuck said:

Florida school bans Amanda Gorman’s inaugural poem after parental complaint

For the record, here's the poem in question:

When day comes, we ask ourselves, where can we find light in this never-ending shade?
The loss we carry. A sea we must wade.
We braved the belly of the beast.
We’ve learned that quiet isn’t always peace, and the norms and notions of what “just” is isn’t always justice.
And yet the dawn is ours before we knew it.
Somehow we do it.
Somehow we weathered and witnessed a nation that isn’t broken, but simply unfinished.
We, the successors of a country and a time where a skinny Black girl descended from slaves and raised by a single mother can dream of becoming president, only to find herself reciting for one.
And, yes, we are far from polished, far from pristine, but that doesn’t mean we are striving to form a union that is perfect.
We are striving to forge our union with purpose.

(selectively spoilered for longcat)

  Reveal hidden contents

To compose a country committed to all cultures, colors, characters and conditions of man.
And so we lift our gaze, not to what stands between us, but what stands before us.
We close the divide because we know to put our future first, we must first put our differences aside.
We lay down our arms so we can reach out our arms to one another.
We seek harm to none and harmony for all.
Let the globe, if nothing else, say this is true.
That even as we grieved, we grew.
That even as we hurt, we hoped.
That even as we tired, we tried.
That we’ll forever be tied together, victorious.
Not because we will never again know defeat, but because we will never again sow division.
Scripture tells us to envision that everyone shall sit under their own vine and fig tree, and no one shall make them afraid.
If we’re to live up to our own time, then victory won’t lie in the blade, but in all the bridges we’ve made.
That is the promise to glade, the hill we climb, if only we dare.
It’s because being American is more than a pride we inherit.
It’s the past we step into and how we repair it.
We’ve seen a force that would shatter our nation, rather than share it.
Would destroy our country if it meant delaying democracy.
And this effort very nearly succeeded.
But while democracy can be periodically delayed, it can never be permanently defeated.
In this truth, in this faith we trust, for while we have our eyes on the future, history has its eyes on us.
This is the era of just redemption.
We feared at its inception.
We did not feel prepared to be the heirs of such a terrifying hour.
But within it we found the power to author a new chapter, to offer hope and laughter to ourselves.
So, while once we asked, how could we possibly prevail over catastrophe, now we assert, how could catastrophe possibly prevail over us?
We will not march back to what was, but move to what shall be: a country that is bruised but whole, benevolent but bold, fierce and free.
We will not be turned around or interrupted by intimidation because we know our inaction and inertia will be the inheritance of the next generation, become the future.
Our blunders become their burdens.
But one thing is certain.
If we merge mercy with might, and might with right, then love becomes our legacy and change our children’s birthright.
So let us leave behind a country better than the one we were left.
Every breath from my bronze-pounded chest, we will raise this wounded world into a wondrous one.
We will rise from the golden hills of the West.
We will rise from the windswept Northeast where our forefathers first realized revolution.
We will rise from the lake-rimmed cities of the Midwestern states.
We will rise from the sun-baked South.
We will rebuild, reconcile, and recover.
And every known nook of our nation and every corner called our country, our people diverse and beautiful, will emerge battered and beautiful.

When day comes, we step out of the shade of flame and unafraid.
The new dawn balloons as we free it.
For there is always light, if only we’re brave enough to see it.
If only we’re brave enough to be it.

One evangelical parent can complain about a poem or book, and it's effectively removed. If a centrist or liberal parent complains about Christian nationalism activities, they're told to pound sand.

And FYI, if a parent doesn't like something, they should be allowed to remove their child from an activity or ask for an alternative for their child. They shouldn't get to dictate what occurs for every other child and parent. When did educational materials become zero tolerance based on 1 complaint? 

[TexasEd 8071]

4 hours ago, SimonBolivar said:

Is Marlin ISD still being run by the TEA?

 

https://www.kwtx.com/2023/05/24/marlin-isd-considers-delaying-graduation-after-only-five-seniors-found-eligible-graduate/

 

 

Sounds like 3 of the 5 eligible to graduate should apply to Texas. 

[tchookem 3905]

Is Marlin ISD still being run by the TEA?
 
https://www.kwtx.com/2023/05/24/marlin-isd-considers-delaying-graduation-after-only-five-seniors-found-eligible-graduate/
 

MARLIN, Texas (KWTX) - The date of graduation for Marlin High School seniors remains up in the air after the district found a majority of them did not meet graduation requirements.
On Tuesday afternoon Marlin ISD told parents that the previously scheduled graduation practice will take place as planned on Wednesday. However, they have not yet made a decision on whether to move the scheduled Thursday graduation.
According to an audit from the district, only five out of the 33 Marlin High School seniors are eligible to graduate. The audit found that a majority of the Class of 2023 either didn’t complete or failed a required course, or had too many absences.

 
Here's how their school year started....

https://www.kwtx.com/2022/08/15/marlin-isd-receives-their-best-tea-score-ten-years-with-an-increase-30-points-2019/

[TexPx 2323]

https://religionnews.com/2023/05/24/meet-the-activists-who-spearheaded-the-texas-chaplains-bill/

[HenryJames 66158]

Good article.

[pacman 7369]

 

TEA appointed Miles removing librarians because all they do is check out books.

[Huckleberry 33068]

On 5/31/2023 at 8:10 AM, HenryJames said:

Good article.

Really great article. Those two parents are real life heroes. 

Quote

“People who think the public schools are indoctrinating don’t know what indoctrination is. We were indoctrinated,” Aaron says. “It’s not even comparable.”

Money shot

[tchookem 3905]

 
TEA appointed Miles removing librarians because all they do is check out books.

I said it before about the chaplaina as counselors bill, I'll say it again.... these people have zero clue about what it takes to run a school day in and day out.

[pacman 7369]

 

 

[HenryJames 66158]

1 hour ago, Huckleberry said:

Money shot

Their public school kids will now know what this means.

[tokamak 6433]

21 minutes ago, pacman said:

 

 

He's missing that Morath and Miles are good friends.

Here's the game plan. Anyone can come back to this post in 3-4 years and quote me.

1. Morath appoints his buddy Miles to a sweet $350k+/year job after unnecessarily firing a superintendent that the community liked and had things moving in the right direction.
2. Miles' track record is pretty mixed. He's supposedly a real "my way or the highway" hardass. Maybe that works in lots of situations in life, but he's being forced on a community that's already extremely skeptical of this process and mistrusting of the TEA. He wore out his welcome in Dallas and since then has been earning big bucks running a charter school network/consultancy, which is totally a thing that someone committed to public education would do.
3. Miles is gonna come in and take some big swings. To a lot of people, this is going to look a lot like gradually winding down HISD as a functioning entity and turning the education in the city over to charter school networks, many of which Miles was working side-by-side with like, yesterday. Whether or not Mike Miles has kids' best interests in mind here is up to the interpretation of the reader. It's not going to be terribly popular with parents or teachers though, especially given the aforementioned abrasive style and general air of mistrust.
4. After a few years, once the mission is largely accomplished and people realize what's going on, Miles and the state will unilaterally declare victory, pat themselves on the back, and wash their hands of HISD entirely.
5. Miles writes a book about all the "pushback" he received in his heroic one-man quest to save the innocent children of Houston or some shit like that, blames the parents/community/unions/libs/anyone with dark skin for every problem he encountered, makes a fortune, and becomes a darling/prominent grifter of the national charter school/school choice movement. "ThIS iS wHy PuBLiC SHooLs aRe bRoKeN!!"

[SydneyCarton 48149]

2 hours ago, pacman said:

 

TEA appointed Miles removing librarians because all they do is check out books.

I get his logic here, honestly. Why do you need a librarian after you’re done burning all the books?

[Pancho 44961]

 

[tx 3 putt 77323]

These two are domestic terrorist ….

 

[pyrohornIII 4817]

On 6/2/2023 at 8:35 PM, Pancho said:

 

I've made it through 3/4 of the episodes.  I thought it was going to be cute little expose' on the Duggar family (which I had scant knowledge of before all this).  But it is SOOO much more.  It goes back to 1961 and the founding of the Institute of Basic Life Principals by Bill Gothard.  This makes that Mormon sect of bigamist/groomers seem like pikers.     

It's really hard to tell the interconnection of all the groups like IBLP, The Family, Wilks and Dunn, FLDS and others, but they all have one thing in common, and that is white supremacy, male white supremacy, to be exact.     

The scary part of it is that these people have been indoctrinated for several generations.   It's going to be hard to turn this around any time soon.   Thing is they have been doing so much of this under the radar, under the guise of religion.  "What bad things could they be doing?  All they do is preach and pray?'  More like preach and prey.  When Abbott went on his voucher tour, there was no public notice.  It was all done via texts, emails and word of mouth within selected groups.  This is how they work, in the fucking shadows, and hide behind the bible when they get caught.

Everything that Abbott is pushing from vouchers to 10 commandments has roots in this movement.  Now whether he believes it or not, or is simply pandering to them for their votes, he's doing it.   

And while IBLP has some facilities here, they are all over the US and abroad too.   They represent a large voting bloc, but not sure they would make up a silent majority.   

 

Here's the trailer for The Family again:

 

Edited June 5, 2023 by pyrohornIII

[atomheartbevo 89777]

35 minutes ago, pyrohornIII said:

Everything that Abbott is pushing from vouchers to 10 commandments has roots in this movement.  Now whether he believes it or not, or is simply pandering to them for their votes, he's doing it.   

When people try and tell me "oh, Abbott doesn't actually believe that" I don't give a fuck because he's taking the same actions as if he did believe it, and the outcome is the same. And I know he doesn't believe that stuff - I commented on it during his primary last year.

35 minutes ago, pyrohornIII said:

And while IBLP has some facilities here, they are all over the US and abroad too.   They represent a large voting bloc, but not sure they would make up a silent majority.   

In states with close races, every group of crazies you can bring to the polls counts. It's why Abbott went hard right - he knows most Republicans won't bail on him for the Dems, but he also knows that if he goes a little crazy right, and pulls in a group of 50,000 people here, and 100,000 people there, that it adds up, especially in a state that Trump only won by 600,000 votes.  Abbott and others are terrified that places like Texas will have see a massive surge in voter registration and engagement, and they've got to pull in every nutty little group they can.

[TexasEd 8071]

On 6/2/2023 at 2:01 PM, tokamak said:

He's missing that Morath and Miles are good friends.

Here's the game plan. Anyone can come back to this post in 3-4 years and quote me.

1. Morath appoints his buddy Miles to a sweet $350k+/year job after unnecessarily firing a superintendent that the community liked and had things moving in the right direction.
2. Miles' track record is pretty mixed. He's supposedly a real "my way or the highway" hardass. Maybe that works in lots of situations in life, but he's being forced on a community that's already extremely skeptical of this process and mistrusting of the TEA. He wore out his welcome in Dallas and since then has been earning big bucks running a charter school network/consultancy, which is totally a thing that someone committed to public education would do.
3. Miles is gonna come in and take some big swings. To a lot of people, this is going to look a lot like gradually winding down HISD as a functioning entity and turning the education in the city over to charter school networks, many of which Miles was working side-by-side with like, yesterday. Whether or not Mike Miles has kids' best interests in mind here is up to the interpretation of the reader. It's not going to be terribly popular with parents or teachers though, especially given the aforementioned abrasive style and general air of mistrust.
4. After a few years, once the mission is largely accomplished and people realize what's going on, Miles and the state will unilaterally declare victory, pat themselves on the back, and wash their hands of HISD entirely.
5. Miles writes a book about all the "pushback" he received in his heroic one-man quest to save the innocent children of Houston or some shit like that, blames the parents/community/unions/libs/anyone with dark skin for every problem he encountered, makes a fortune, and becomes a darling/prominent grifter of the national charter school/school choice movement. "ThIS iS wHy PuBLiC SHooLs aRe bRoKeN!!"

You forgot the part where he's a paid lobbyist off the books and owns a stake in the companies that benefit from this scheme.  Also the kickbacks to Abbott.

Edited June 5, 2023 by TexasEd

[Beau Vine 54377]

 

[pacman 7369]

Oklahoma is a bit ahead of Texas but we won't be far behind...

[Pancho 44961]

Reading a book to your class about acceptance = fired. 

The school board can't/won't define what "divisive topics" even means in this instance. 

 

 

[mdmost 43018]

Fresh Air had a great segment with a Washington Post reporter who looked into the groups petitioning against books in school and how that's taken off since the Pandemic. Also talked about the environment teachers are now facing.

https://www.npr.org/2023/06/22/1183701813/facing-book-bans-and-restrictions-on-lessons-teachers-are-scared-and-self-censor

 

[pacman 7369]

 

US History...in the Bible...lol

Where?

 

Oh, found it!

 

Genesis 1:27

So God created the United States of 'Murica white man in his own image,

 

 

[Fastbreak 3990]

According to this okie school official, the Tulsa Massacre wasn’t about race, it was just about getting rid of the uppity n&$@ers..

https://www.thedailybeast.com/oklahomas-ryan-walters-outdoes-himself-with-tulsa-race-massacre-comment

"Let's not tie it to the skin color and say that the skin color determined that," Walters said, which angered some attendees, with one woman saying, "This divisive rhetoric, the kids are watching this. The kids are watching this."

I would love to beat this motherfuckers ass…

[Catdaddyhorn 3447]

9 hours ago, Fastbreak said:

According to this okie school official, the Tulsa Massacre wasn’t about race, it was just about getting rid of the uppity n&$@ers..

https://www.thedailybeast.com/oklahomas-ryan-walters-outdoes-himself-with-tulsa-race-massacre-comment

"Let's not tie it to the skin color and say that the skin color determined that," Walters said, which angered some attendees, with one woman saying, "This divisive rhetoric, the kids are watching this. The kids are watching this."

I would love to beat this motherfuckers ass…

Walters’ views are the more disturbing when you consider that he was teaching AP History at the high school in his hometown of McAlester three years ago. His YouTube channel includes an April 2020 virtual class that seemingly would violate his ban. Walters today would call what he taught then indoctrination.

At the time, Walters was preparing his students for the Advanced Placement U.S. History exam. The video shows him sharing the screen with a black and white photo of armed soldiers escorting the first nine Black students into Little Rock Central High School in 1957.

“This is the Civil Rights Movement,” Walters said. “You’re gonna see this reach its apex here in Little Rock.”

He then stepped back three years to the Supreme Court’s Brown v. Board of Education decision.

“The Supreme Court said, when you segregate, that is unconstitutional,” he said. “Segregation is illegal. You cannot segregate someone based on their race.”

He talked about the case itself.

“By the way, there’s this amazing moment where an attorney comes in and calls onto the stand the psychologist,” Walters says, “And the psychologist talks about, ‘I can show you how much damage is done to children based on segregation in schools.’”

 

Walters did not identify the psychologist, but it is Dr. Kenneth Clark, whose wife, Dr. Mamie Clark, devised what became known as “The Dolls Test.” Walters proceeded to offer a not-quite-accurate description of the famous study in which 253 Black children aged 3 to 7 were asked if they preferred white dolls with light hair or Black dolls with dark hair. The great majority of the children chose the white dolls and expressed negative feelings about the Black ones. The Clarks attributed the results to racist practices and attitudes.

“And so these psychologists went on and talked about how detrimental that was,” Walter said. “So it’s a fascinating case.”

A case that was based on skin color.

The Walters of 2020 clearly understood that even if he had some of the details wrong. (Kenneth Clark did testify in numerous other segregation cases, but he never took the stand in front of the Supreme Court in this one. He did submit a written statement to the high court that detailed test.)

At another point in the class, Walters changed the screen background to a photo of the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. addressing a huge crowd at the Washington Monument in 1963.

“This is his famous D.C. speech—‘I have a dream.’ Unbelievable speech,” Walters told his pupils. “It is hard to overstate his impact.”

One question that arises from this 50-minute class three years ago is how can Walters now declare that race is not a factor that demands critical study in American society? Could it be that he simply found it politically expedient in a red state going even redder?

 

I had no idea this fucker was a former teacher. Their entire political apparatus is just an exercise in extreme tolling. Most of them don't actually believe in the shit they spew. 

[Texas Jeff 1945]

Teacher are falling behind in pay; I'm not sure folks realize how far.

Cap Metro is starting mechanics at $71k-$84k per year. The TSA is paying $48k to $59k in Austin for people to check IDs, move plastic tubs, and watch x-ray machines.  As of Sept 2022, the Austin Transit Partnership employed 41 people. Thirty-one of those made more than $100k and eight made more than $200k.  Austin Police pays an officer with two years experience about $81,000.  These are all public, taxpayer-funded jobs and other than ATP do not require a college degree.

Most early career Austin ISD teachers are stuck in the $50k salary range, although you can make more if you speak Spanish, teach special ed, or coach a sport.  Teaching requires a college degree and certification.

Many teachers that I have met feel called to do the work and inspire the next generation.  Somehow we as a society feel it's OK to take advantage of this and pay them less than other public servants.  It's not right, and we are close to the point where the new teacher pipeline out of college will dry up and we will wonder where our teachers went.

[Fudge Nuggets 19211]

My dream scenario would be public school teachers make at least as much as D-I football coordinators.

[Captainant 27726]

5 hours ago, Texas Jeff said:

Somehow we as a society feel it's OK to take advantage of this and pay them less than other public servants.  It's not right, and we are close to the point where the new teacher pipeline out of college will dry up and we will wonder where our teachers went.

Bro don't you understand? We should only invest resources into people who we know will actually make use of them, right @fattyflattie? Why bother paying teachers if they're just gonna be teaching poor kids amirite?

[Serak The Preparer 3431]

53 minutes ago, Captainant said:

Bro don't you understand? We should only invest resources into people who we know will actually make use of them, right @fattyflattie? Why bother paying teachers if they're just gonna be teaching poor kids amirite?

Even better - kids die so he can keep his guns AND fewer taxes for fewer teachers means the boat fund grows. Win-win.

[tchookem 3905]

Teacher are falling behind in pay; I'm not sure folks realize how far.
Cap Metro is starting mechanics at $71k-$84k per year. The TSA is paying $48k to $59k in Austin for people to check IDs, move plastic tubs, and watch x-ray machines.  As of Sept 2022, the Austin Transit Partnership employed 41 people. Thirty-one of those made more than $100k and eight made more than $200k.  Austin Police pays an officer with two years experience about $81,000.  These are all public, taxpayer-funded jobs and other than ATP do not require a college degree.
Most early career Austin ISD teachers are stuck in the $50k salary range, although you can make more if you speak Spanish, teach special ed, or coach a sport.  Teaching requires a college degree and certification.
Many teachers that I have met feel called to do the work and inspire the next generation.  Somehow we as a society feel it's OK to take advantage of this and pay them less than other public servants.  It's not right, and we are close to the point where the new teacher pipeline out of college will dry up and we will wonder where our teachers went.

I appreciate your sentiment, and your concerns about a future of underpaid teachers isn't far off. But to be honest, at this point in my career, I would compromise with funding education enough to pay for adequately staffing a school with special education and bilingual education teachers, not to mention all the auxiliary positions that schools need to function.

I can't count how many times the SpEd teacher was pulled from my class (a class that sped students have required minutes with a sped teacher) because they had to cover another class, or how many "aides" I had in my classroom that probably should have been a certified sped teacher.

To be honest, I would settle with funding education adequately enough to hire enough teachers to get my class sizes under 30. There is a huge difference between teaching in a room with 30 eleven year-olds and 26 eleven year-olds. Now imagine having 35 eleven year-olds. Yeah.

You know what, keep the raise, it's a bandaid. What good is an extra $200/ month if I have to go into a dirty classroom with 35 kids (10 SpEd/5 Spanish speakers/1 Swahili speaker), no ESL teacher and a SpEd teacher that leaves 20 minutes into class?

[fattyflattie 4638]

3 hours ago, Captainant said:

Bro don't you understand? We should only invest resources into people who we know will actually make use of them, right @fattyflattie? Why bother paying teachers if they're just gonna be teaching poor kids amirite?

I was out for a few days and you missed me, huh?   What are you on about now; still upset shit families largely shit out shit kids and the worlds just not fair!!1!1  

Edited July 10, 2023 by fattyflattie

[Nivek 16976]

SPED teachers are the substitute teachers for the school.  SPED kids don't matter, and when it comes to testing, use the SPED teacher to facilitate the exams.  SPED teacher aides do not require any actual experience or education to assist those kids.  

The other issue with teachers is how they seem to be required to do more and more for the same pay.  The right figured out the best way to kill the EPA and IRS was to cut their staff and give them more to do so everyone is swamped trying to tread water.

 

Edited July 10, 2023 by Nivek

[Pancho 44961]