When I came back to Colorado, I was still certain I wanted to be a teacher, but this time, I wanted high school only. I felt lucky when I landed a job at a prestigious and private high school, teaching 11th and 12th grades. It was an incredibly tough job; the department head threw away all teaching manuals, so I had to research (in the days before wide-access to computers and Google) each text I was teaching; we were required to assign a 2-3 page paper every week and have it graded quickly; we were to teach 20 words of vocabulary every two weeks; and finally, we were to teach grammar each day, including diagramming. Additionally, we were required to attend after school events and sponsor something. Plus we were expected to volunteer at school functions. I spent one fall volunteering at football games, taking tickets. Finally, the school decided to raise funds for construction by selling bricks, and we teachers were required to donate 100.00 for a brick per teacher. I made $19,000.00 a year.
I worked six to seven days a week, three to four hours per night. I couldn't afford to live on my own, pay bills, and buy groceries each week, so I learned to buy pastas, limit my driving, and live in the cheapest, most rundown apartment I could find. As for the brick, I had to ask my parents for the money because I couldn't afford it. But I was willing to do this because I knew I was teaching in a prestigious, private high school. Granted, I was barely living above the poverty line, and my grandmother would slip me $20 each week, which went for gas, but I was resolved to make this school work. Yes, I had to work summers to make ends meet because $19,000 wasn't enough to support myself.
The school also had a policy that we were not 'vested' in our retirement accounts until we had attained five years employment with school, but we were required to deposit a portion of our paycheck each month into "our" retirement account. During my first year, the scheduler 'forgot' to assign me a lunch period, but I was told I could use my planning period to eat lunch. However, there were no substitutes for this prestigious, private high school, so we teachers were asked to give up our planning periods to substitute-for no additional pay-for those teachers who were absent. Because I was one of the only people off during sixth period, I often subbed for absent teachers. But wait! I didn't get a lunch because they forgot to assign one. So I often ate after school.
During my first year, my seniors hazed me. They were rude, belligerent, made fun of me, refused to do their work, and blamed me for losing their assignments. They made rude noises in class and then denied doing so. It didn't help that I was a 'traveling' teacher-I had no classroom, so I had to use other teachers' classrooms. I also had colleagues who wouldn't leave their classrooms and let me teach; instead, they watched me, critiqued me in front of classes, corrected me in front of classes, and even when they were wrong, they would not admit to being wrong to my classes. I thought my second year would be better, but we lost a student in a tragic accident, and the school completely mishandled the situation, causing all of us more grief than necessary. I anticipated my third year as my best year yet, but even with that, I was sorely mistaken.
After Christmas vacation during my third year, I was approached by a student who asked me to change a grade. He insisted his college of choice changed admission requirements on him, and that my class was preventing him from attending that school. He offered to do an extra research paper assignment for me, but I told him no. I felt he had fairly earned his high B, and I wasn't going to allow him to do any further work for the previous semester. The next day, my voicemail was filled with long, obscenity-filled messages from his mother because of my refusal. Within the week, the head of our school board was in my room, threatening me with my job if I didn't change the student's grade. I refused him as well. By the end of the first three weeks of school, at age 27, I had high blood pressure, which I have today, and which could cause kidney failure as I age.
This student and his friend began to harass me. I went to the principal to ask for help, and he shut his office door in my face. The harassment continued; they were disruptive in class; they ditched and accused me of falsely marking them absent; they threw a rock through my classroom window, narrowly missing a student with the rock and sending glass fragments all over my room. My colleagues refused to speak to me; in fact, I was no longer allowed to sit at the faculty table during lunch. Eventually, I stopped eating in the lunchroom. I went home in tears each night. When I resigned at the end of the school year, the principal screamed obscenities at me over the phone and called me ungrateful. Then he hung up on me.
When I moved to public school, I knew I would get a raise; in fact, I had a 6500.00 raise in my first year. I knew what each teacher's salary was because we had steps and levels; there was no secrecy like at my previous school where an unqualified male teacher, one who didn't hold a teaching license, made more money that I did. I had good benefits. I had a union that protected me from harassment like I'd experienced at my previous school. I had decent hours, reasonable and doable expectations, and teachers' manuals! I had the necessities to do my job well. I had incentive to further my education because my pay would increase. And finally, when I left my prestigious high school, I forfeited all my retirement money, money I had earned, because I wasn't vested. I lost three years of retirement pay. Now I have PERA and a plan for retirement.
Teaching is an endangered career. We have corporations trying to take over, put us on pay 'bands,' reduce our benefits, and politicians bent on eliminating our retirement plan. Our master's degrees are considered 'useless,' and we are disrespected by our district and our board of education. We are losing our protections, and I fear, we are turning into private schools. Working in a private school taught me about the need for a Collective Bargaining Agreement and union protection. I would never return to working in a private school again. Without a union, without a Collective Bargaining Agreement, school districts and school boards can do whatever they want to teachers. And this is why, 23 years after walking into my first full-time position, I willing to do what I need to do so I never again have to teach in such conditions as my prestigious, private high school. Private schools may have changed over the past 20 years, but one fact remains: without a union, without support and protection, schools can require whatever they want from their teachers. Teachers have no protections in schools without CBAs, in schools without unions.
At this point in my career, I will fight to win against the corporate takeover of my school district.
I worked six to seven days a week, three to four hours per night. I couldn't afford to live on my own, pay bills, and buy groceries each week, so I learned to buy pastas, limit my driving, and live in the cheapest, most rundown apartment I could find. As for the brick, I had to ask my parents for the money because I couldn't afford it. But I was willing to do this because I knew I was teaching in a prestigious, private high school. Granted, I was barely living above the poverty line, and my grandmother would slip me $20 each week, which went for gas, but I was resolved to make this school work. Yes, I had to work summers to make ends meet because $19,000 wasn't enough to support myself.
The school also had a policy that we were not 'vested' in our retirement accounts until we had attained five years employment with school, but we were required to deposit a portion of our paycheck each month into "our" retirement account. During my first year, the scheduler 'forgot' to assign me a lunch period, but I was told I could use my planning period to eat lunch. However, there were no substitutes for this prestigious, private high school, so we teachers were asked to give up our planning periods to substitute-for no additional pay-for those teachers who were absent. Because I was one of the only people off during sixth period, I often subbed for absent teachers. But wait! I didn't get a lunch because they forgot to assign one. So I often ate after school.
During my first year, my seniors hazed me. They were rude, belligerent, made fun of me, refused to do their work, and blamed me for losing their assignments. They made rude noises in class and then denied doing so. It didn't help that I was a 'traveling' teacher-I had no classroom, so I had to use other teachers' classrooms. I also had colleagues who wouldn't leave their classrooms and let me teach; instead, they watched me, critiqued me in front of classes, corrected me in front of classes, and even when they were wrong, they would not admit to being wrong to my classes. I thought my second year would be better, but we lost a student in a tragic accident, and the school completely mishandled the situation, causing all of us more grief than necessary. I anticipated my third year as my best year yet, but even with that, I was sorely mistaken.
After Christmas vacation during my third year, I was approached by a student who asked me to change a grade. He insisted his college of choice changed admission requirements on him, and that my class was preventing him from attending that school. He offered to do an extra research paper assignment for me, but I told him no. I felt he had fairly earned his high B, and I wasn't going to allow him to do any further work for the previous semester. The next day, my voicemail was filled with long, obscenity-filled messages from his mother because of my refusal. Within the week, the head of our school board was in my room, threatening me with my job if I didn't change the student's grade. I refused him as well. By the end of the first three weeks of school, at age 27, I had high blood pressure, which I have today, and which could cause kidney failure as I age.
This student and his friend began to harass me. I went to the principal to ask for help, and he shut his office door in my face. The harassment continued; they were disruptive in class; they ditched and accused me of falsely marking them absent; they threw a rock through my classroom window, narrowly missing a student with the rock and sending glass fragments all over my room. My colleagues refused to speak to me; in fact, I was no longer allowed to sit at the faculty table during lunch. Eventually, I stopped eating in the lunchroom. I went home in tears each night. When I resigned at the end of the school year, the principal screamed obscenities at me over the phone and called me ungrateful. Then he hung up on me.
When I moved to public school, I knew I would get a raise; in fact, I had a 6500.00 raise in my first year. I knew what each teacher's salary was because we had steps and levels; there was no secrecy like at my previous school where an unqualified male teacher, one who didn't hold a teaching license, made more money that I did. I had good benefits. I had a union that protected me from harassment like I'd experienced at my previous school. I had decent hours, reasonable and doable expectations, and teachers' manuals! I had the necessities to do my job well. I had incentive to further my education because my pay would increase. And finally, when I left my prestigious high school, I forfeited all my retirement money, money I had earned, because I wasn't vested. I lost three years of retirement pay. Now I have PERA and a plan for retirement.
Teaching is an endangered career. We have corporations trying to take over, put us on pay 'bands,' reduce our benefits, and politicians bent on eliminating our retirement plan. Our master's degrees are considered 'useless,' and we are disrespected by our district and our board of education. We are losing our protections, and I fear, we are turning into private schools. Working in a private school taught me about the need for a Collective Bargaining Agreement and union protection. I would never return to working in a private school again. Without a union, without a Collective Bargaining Agreement, school districts and school boards can do whatever they want to teachers. And this is why, 23 years after walking into my first full-time position, I willing to do what I need to do so I never again have to teach in such conditions as my prestigious, private high school. Private schools may have changed over the past 20 years, but one fact remains: without a union, without support and protection, schools can require whatever they want from their teachers. Teachers have no protections in schools without CBAs, in schools without unions.
At this point in my career, I will fight to win against the corporate takeover of my school district.
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