Cairo Association of Teachers - Newsletter



CAT Tracks for May 30, 2009
HEY, HEY, PAULA

Postscript...

After my post yesterday...bursting your dreams of big bucks in Cairo School District Number One...got to thinking.

Since you are a MASTER (VIOLIN) TEACHER, you may not "do math". And, even if you did, you are not privy to the recently negotiated agreement between the Cairo BOE and the Cairo Association of Teachers...an agreement that WOULD apply to you whether you wanted it to or not. And, based upon the math...you definitely would NOT!

As an OLD math teacher, privy to said agreement, I did a few calculations...

Assuming that you have 28 years of experience (which is the best you can do under the agreement that stripped part-time employees of anything above), you would be paid at that level...at the BS lane (since the new agreement stripped part-time employees of an credentials above the Bachelor of Science. Masters, Doctors, "Master Teacher"...forgetaboutit!)

Anyway...I took that number, added the $605 "raise" that was given to teachers in the 2008-2009 Contract, added the $690 "raise" that will be given to teachers in the 2009-2010 Contact.

I then divided that total by 180 (the number of days in a school year) to determine your maximum daily rate of pay.

You had proposed $1,000 a day. In reality (ain't that always a kick in the head?)...in reality (under the best-case scenario outlined above), the maximum that you can pull down as a part-time "Master Teacher" of violin in CSD #1 is $273.80 per day.

To carry the math to another level, you proposed that you should/would receive $35,000 for your anticipated 35 days of work. Well, under the "reality clause", what you will actually receive (again,under the best-case scenario outlined above) is $9,538.


Hey, look at the bright side...

If you had really gotten what you asked for, the bloggers/posters on Topix.com would have eaten you alive!

If you are not familiar with "Topix", it's a gossip site for communities throughout the United States. Cairo's Topix Page allows anybody from near or far to rant on a variety of topics of interest to them...including the Cairo Public Schools.

Although I don't participate in the discussions, various "posters" cite CAT Tracks and use my meanderings and/or rants as topics of discussion. Yes, and unlike the Superintendent and CAT Tracks, I will admit to dropping in periodically to get my voyeuristic thrills.

Yesterday, readers/posters picked up on the "Story of Paula, the Master Violin Teacher". Most were predictably outraged. (I'm sorry, Paula. No offense intended, but your proposed salary IS outrageous. I mean...if Leotis D. Swopes made what you proposed, he would pull down $240,000 a year...his contracted 240 days a year times your proposed daily rate of $1,000 per. PLEASE...don't give him any ideas!!!)

There was one reader/poster that tossed a stone in my direction...somebody using the pseudonym "Oh Please". Here is what he or she had to say...

Well, I take no offense to the remark about me. (Actually, for the record, I never did vote to strike...left that up to everyone else. However, you know me...I have been known to "editorialize to heighten emotion." I accept my share of responsibility.)

However...

I do take offense to the implications/allegations made by "Oh Please" about teachers in general.

I can't give "Oh Please" any props for creativity...it's nothing teachers haven't heard before...time after time after time, even.

Teachers...don'tcha just love it when your multitude of critics always throw the children in your face when you ask for a living wage...a wage commensurate with your educational training...a wage commensurate with your fellow teachers living in other communities...as close as Carbondale and Marion. (We won't even mention Chicago! Oops, guess I just did. My bad...)

The sentence that just reaches out and grabs you...

    "Also, ask yourselves if they teach because they like to, or if its just a paycheck."

The premise...the entirely FALSE premise laid on us by "Oh Please" is that if you ask for money to teach, then you must not like to teach...which further implies that you don't actually care for the children.

You know my basic response to that, which should appeal to the poster...

OH, PLEASE!!!

THAT is such a stupid argument!

I mean, think about it...

Think of all the actors, actresses, singers, etc. You know, those folks that pull down millions for performances. God in Heaven...how they must HATE their jobs...HATE their fans. I mean...to demand that much money to do what they do. Pity the fools...

The #1 draft picks in the NFL...

No wonder they hold out for $50 million or $100 million to play football. I mean, (some of them at least) just completed college...got their degree in whatever...obviously something they love, since they freely chose it. To give that up to play football!?

Nuff said...

Again, it's a false premise proposed by folks that probably hated school when they were kids and like to beat up on their teachers after they have gone on to make a living using the tools that their uncaring, evil teachers forced upon them.

I always wonder what people like "Oh Please" do for a living...

If it's something they really love, do they go in annually and ask for a pay cut? Does "Oh Please" say..."Boss, I love my job! Thank you so much for letting me work here. In fact, Boss...donate my paycheck to charity, because I love my job so much that I will gladly do it for free!!!"

I shall repeat my response from above...

OH, PLEASE!!!


Postscript to the postscript...

In my "digression", I kinda left Miss Paula hangin'.

Unless Paula gets the job (at her proposed salary and mileage), I'm done.

I don't have anything against Miss Paula...she was definitely enthusiastic about her job, like most teachers I know. Her charges played their little hearts out at the Regular May BOE Meeting. I heard nary a sour note...

As I said above...Miss Paula has no personal knowledge of the existing contract for certified employees in CSD #1. In fact, it wasn't even ratified at that time.

No, none of this is her fault (although, for her to propose a salary of $1,000 a day, I wonder about her prior work experience. Paula obviously doesn't socialize/teach in the same circles as my teacher colleagues in rural Southern Illinois.)

Good luck, Paula. I hope you find a public school that will pay you $35,000 for 35 days of work...PLUS mileage.

If/when you do, oh, please drop us a line...let us know where you are. Others might like to join you...in this paradise on earth. (Can't be "Heaven"...in Heaven, they do harps...not violins!)