Many know my wife is a teacher. The thing that really gets me is how many well off parents have charity children. My wife's school has the richest neighborhood and the poorest in the same school. It has been quite a ride to see. The story that got me the most was how a student from the $$$ hood was helped by a poor kid because the well off kid's parents wouldn't buy them shoes. Makes me think of Don Bagley and his rearing.

My wife is money blind when it comes to kids. She doesn't discriminate because of parents. I love this about her. Truly a saint. If a kid is in need she's there and we buy what is needed. Kids have it rough regardless of their parent's tax bracket. Mitt Romney has no clue nor does the POTUS and his cabinet.

A student's education is something it takes a lot of work to get. If you think you need to provide one more than your government than by all means. Living here doesn't mean you are guaranteed to an American dream. But reaching kids in all situations is something that my wife loves and is passionate about and she is great at. No child is left behind in her classroom if she can help. It is an inspiration to help her help the kids.

If you have kids in school ask a teacher if there is something you can provide to other kids. It is one of the best forms of giving out there. To begrudge this and put down the whole public education system for whatever faults you find is just hurting kids. You can help and if you want provide positive feedback to teachers. They will appreciate it. Teaching is the one profession that should have a great amount of support and doesn't. Profits are hard to quantify there.

I've heard all of these things. They both get their kids what they need. They said the mormon families are the cheapest. The stories I've heard about kids in their classes are horrible.

She worked in New Mexico on the reservation just after college to pay off student loans. Things were really bad there.

What I never thought of was how difficult it is at the end of every year to say good-bye to their kids.

It takes a special kind of person to be a school teacher.

My dad was a school teacher, also. Kids either liked him or they didn't. He taught ag mechanics. Those who liked him, LOVED him. One spoke at his funeral. Some of them went into ag mechanics teaching, too.

There are many others in my family who are teachers.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 01/11/2020 07:26PM by cl2.

Yes, a little appreciation goes a long way. It has been difficult to spend so much of my time (most years, 50+ or 60+ hours per week,) and so much money, and then have to listen to endless radio and TV pieces about the horrible public schools and the horrible, entitled public school teachers.

>>The thing that really gets me is how many well off parents have charity children.

Here's one of my favorite stories. It happened last school year. I was working in a neighborhood that was poor and working class. It looked okay on the surface, but had tons of problems bubbling underneath -- poverty, drugs, mental health issues, the usual. One of my students had a father who is in one of the highly paid professions. How this student and her family landed in this neighborhood, I don't know. My best guess is that he is in the beginning stages of his career, and the real payout will come later. The mom stayed at home, so they were obviously not desperate for cash.

Despite two written requests for supplies, nothing was sent to school for her. I mentally sighed and reached into my supply bin for a pencil box, pencils, crayons, notebooks, etc. I had done that many times before.

Midway through the year, I got a complaint from the little girl. Her desk partner had taken some crayons. I told the little girl that I would speak to her desk partner, but that they were never *her* crayons. They were my crayons.

The little girl, who was never one to let things rest (she was a covert bully,) made the same complaint to her mother, who in turn, complained to me. I gave her the same response that I had given to her daughter.

The mother, in a huff, finally sent in school supplies. In January.

The mom complained to the principal about me (for this and similar issues.) At the end of the school year, the principal dismissed me to the four winds (I still had a job with my school system, but who knows where. And my school system has a lot of very bad options.) It was at that point that I decided I was finished with the classroom. I took control of my future.

My family and friends now joke that the principal did me a tremendous favor. :)



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 01/11/2020 07:41PM by summer.

The worst part of your story is that the little girl and the mother feel vindicated for making your life hell. It reaffirms that bad behavior is duly rewarded.

And shame on that principal for siding with a crappy parent!

>>And shame on that principal for siding with a crappy parent!

It happens for many teachers. Most parents are fine, some are great, but a few will make your life hell.

As for the girl and her mother, I figure karma will come to bite at some point.

Some administrators are more supportive than others. What I've observed is that most will support teachers whenever it is reasonable to do so UNLESS either the complaining parent is for some reason influential in the local community, unless the administrator is a personal friend of the complaining parent, or unless the administrator has an issue with a particular teacher.

We had a situation (which I can share because the major details became public record) last year in which a second-grader asked to use the bathroom literally one minute before the dismissal bell was to ring. The child who made the request had a history of getting into mischief in the school restrooms during class time, and was not a bus rider; it shouldn't have been a problem for her to use the bathroom immediately after the bell rang, before beginning her walk home. If I were a teacher, I would probably err on the side of always granting permission to any child who requested bathroom privileges unless it was a lockdown situation, but I respect the teacher's right to handle the situation, as she knew the child well.

The little girl wet her pants on the roughly four-block walk home. She didn't take the time to visit the restroom before making the roughly four-block trek home. Another teacher reported afterward that the child had paused for a few minutes to play tetherball. Usually the tetherballs would have been taken down by then, but the custodian hadn't gotten to them yet. The child admitted to all of this and did not say that she wet her pants in class, on her way to the school restroom, or anywhere on campus.

The little girl's father had been a former student of an assistant superintendent in our district, and had maintained close contact with him though the years. He and his wife were the little girl's godparents. The assistant superintendent had even co-signed on a home loan for this young man and his wife - they were THAT close.

The evening following the afternoon in which the little girl wet her pants on her way home from school, the girl's father called the assistant superintendent to complain and to ask him to handle the conflict. The following day, the assistant superintendent sent a substitute teacher into the teacher's classroom and summoned her to the district office, at which point he verbally ripped into the teacher, refusing to allow her to explain anything. He placed a formal reprimand in the teacher's personnel file. The site principal was totally bypassed and was unaware that there was a problem other than being aware that one of his teachers had been called to the district office in the middle of a school day.

The teacher's union supported the teacher, and rightly so. How was it in any way the teacher's fault that the kid wanted to use the bathroom during class time, but couldn't be bothered with using the restroom on her own time, and consequently had a bathroom accident as a result? The district superintendent overruled his assistant and removed the formal reprimand from the teacher's file. He requested a formal written apology from his assistant to the teacher. The assistant superintendent refused to provide the apology or even to sign one that was written for him by a secretary. He chose to resign instead.

I've only lived in the community for about eight-and-one-half years, so I don't have a great deal of history with the people here, but friends and neighbors have told me that the assistant superintendent in question was a great teacher and principal before moving on to the district office. It was thought by those with whom I discussed the situation after the fact that the assistant superintendent had allowed his friendship with the little girl's father to cloud his judgment. He shouldn't even have been involved in it. It should first have been handled at the school site, and then, if the satisfaction had not been handled to the satisfaction of either party, only then referred to the district office. Once it reached the district office, the assistant superintendent should have recused himself because of his personal involvement with the child and her parents.

My former principal took a great interest in the girl, who was very bright. She was not willing to risk losing the girl's test scores. What my principal did not realize was that I had several other kids in my class whom I fully expected to get eye-popping test scores as well. The entire class would have tested well. I had a great group that year, one of the best of my career, and I was able to do a lot with them. I actually lost another bright student who was bullied by the girl. Her mom removed her from the school.

That principal was new to the school. Over the course of a couple years, she lost almost her entire teaching staff (more than 20 teachers, which is unheard of. A school might typically lose 2-3 teachers per year.) She either dismissed the teachers, or they took the hint and looked elsewhere. It became obvious that she had come to the building intending to "clean house." She did, with a vengeance. I was one of the last to go. No loss on my part. One of my colleagues, who was bullied by her out of the building, and left when I did, was triple certified. All of her certifications were in hard-to-find specialties. That teacher was given a $15K signing bonus to go to another school district. A principal, who was waiting outside of the door, literally pounced on her the minute she exited her HR interview.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 01/14/2020 09:57AM by summer.

Where we used to live I knew a couple of families that struggled with back to school stuff. I would "secret Santa" some of the basics. OK, and some fun stuff I knew the kids would like because I knew the kids (I just love me some Hello Kitty). We don't really have kids that age around now and I donate at stores that pass things along.

Elder Berry there is another old film I bet you would like. It has been on TCM or AMC recently, you might want to look for it. It really shows the value of teachers and how they touch kids in ways they don't even know. I bet your wife would like it :)

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Good_Morning,_Miss_Dove

Great movie even though there is not a body in the window seat ;)

What a wonderful thing to do.

Thanks for the movie suggestion. I'm trying to find it to rent but it is impossible. I can buy it on Amazon for around $20.

It looks like a fun one to watch regardless of missing bodies.

Try youtube for the movie.


https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=W4WLhQo5umQ

Thank you.

Let me know how you like the movie :) My favorite character is the one that escapes from the road gang not once but twice so he can check on her.

Susan I/S Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Let me know how you like the movie :)

Will do.

Kick the $20 you saved to the RFM operating expenses ...if it moves you.

Will do.

Done.

You are a human of honor.

People like you make the world a better place to live.

Confession. All the people I love in the world are Mormon. My big hope is the colossal religious deceptions of people will have counterbalances like RfM. You helped me see that my widow's mite help a few people where I feel powerless in the helping me and my own.

I don't know any teachers in my town personally, but when I can, I search https://www.donorschoose.org/teachers to see what they need. One teacher's goal was to give elementary children books every month to build a home library for them. One teacher wanted stools. Another wanted an easel. An easel. The school can't afford an easel?

I proudly tell my neighbors that yes, I voted for the *very* modest property tax for teachers. Whatever about administrators' salaries. Go to school board meetings and bitch about it. What? You don't have kids in school? Me neither! But when I did, I was grateful for school lunch, enrichments programs - I was very grateful for all public school did for my child. Wait. Most of these kids live in apartments? Well guess what: property taxes are built into rent. You don't think landlords pay taxes out of the kindness of their hearts, do you?

When our teachers went on strike, I was like, "Right on!"

::steppin' off the soapbox::



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 01/13/2020 01:06AM by Beth.

YOU go Beth!

Many people like to compare GA salaries with the "going rat." Er rate.

My wife has a masters degree, has taught for over a decade and gets the same salary as teaching starting their first year in other places in the U.S. some just across the border in Kansas. Many would say just move. They don't understand. Our district is one of the better ones around here but gets the shaft. Also, we've had to pay out now 2 superintendents to leave with them taking a couple of million dollars with them.

Many teachers are overworked and underpaid and yet "deal with it." That is what people do. So if you think a teacher is great thank the stars for them "just doing their job" because it isn't like any other job that I know of.

Beth, that's wonderful! I know that Donors Choose has been a lifeline for many teachers.