On Janesville teachers ratify contract
Posted on April 3 at 3:33 p.m. ( Suggest removal )
ilovehockey - Instead of taking out your frustrations on people who attempted to get a fair contract (well within our rights) why don't you get ticked about the fact that the school district is essentially taking your tax dollars (the money that is not being used for our healthcare - 30 million accumulated to date) and using it for whatever they want! The part the general public never got was - the school district didn't need our money! In fact, they have extra every year. They are giving us enough money in salary to make up for our premiums! Why would they do that? (By the way, I know the answer to that question.) You can't compare that to others who pay premiums. Of course we would have had to pay premiums sometime in the future. We knew that. But we didn't need to yet.
PS - Thank you to all of you who've written such supportive comments in this article.
On Teachers sign off on make-up dates
Posted on March 14 at 10:09 a.m. ( Suggest removal )
Gee, I don't remember signing off on anything...
Posted on March 12 at 8:49 a.m. ( Suggest removal )
randomgirl - I too am very sad to hear that your experience was so greatly affected by not meeting in clubs. I hadn't heard any other students put it that way. However, I did hear of one case where a student was concerned that they couldn't do ski trips anymore and I thought, what is stopping a parent from doing those trips? It's great that teachers contribute to the school experience by offering so many extras but is it really solely the responsibility of the teachers to provide out-of-school activities for kids? Why couldn't a parent organize a ski trip on their own time outside of work?
pak89 - I would have stayed later to meet with kids for extra help but THEY NEVER COME! At least in our department, we practically beg kids to come and get help but they don't show up. So I would have to argue that (for our department at least) not working beyond contract hours has not affected our students in that way.
Posted on March 5 at 3:07 p.m. ( Suggest removal )
jetski30 suggested that the public may not have a clear idea of what it’s like to teach here. Here you go. Many days are wonderful and rewarding and I have a lot of positive connections with students. Other days are downright hideous. Here are some excellent examples of what I’ve dealt with in the past two weeks and why many teachers may sound so frustrated:
- I had to send a student out of class 3rd hour because he refused to turn over his hat to me. I don’t really have a problem with students wearing hats but if it’s going to be a school rule, I do feel obligated to enforce it. I only wish that I didn’t have to have continuous confrontations with students about rules that they are well aware of on a daily basis.
- About 10 of the 45 students I have in one of my subjects did their homework today after I spent a great deal of time telling them where to find the answers.
- Many teachers attempted to break up a big fight and two of them were injured in the process. One was hit in the face and the other had her arm pulled. We were trained in non violent crisis intervention (so as not to harm the students as they are trying to take you or another student out) but I haven’t had to use my skills yet.
- One of my students attempted to knock another one my students out by swinging a billiard ball in a sock at her head.
- Two boys just flipped out swearing at me after I very calmly discussed with one of them that he couldn’t write obscenities on his PowerPoint title page.
- A colleague of mine tried to stop some students engaged in a public display of affection and was told “you’re just jealous – you’re too fat to have sex.”
And that’s just the tip of the iceberg. Teachers all over the district have similar stories daily.
On Two police officers injured in scuffle with Janesville man
Posted on March 3 at 3:25 p.m. ( Suggest removal )
This sounds a little like teaching lately. Last week (as mentioned in Thursday's public record)a fight broke out between some boys at school and at least one of them had a knife. Meanwhile, several teachers who happened to be walking by attempted to break it up not knowing about the knife until it was listed in the paper. Two female teachers were hit during the scuffle. In another incident last week, a student in my class hit another student with a cue ball in a sock. Meanwhile, we are being offered courses on non-violent crisis intervention - so as to avoid injuring the students.
Posted on February 28 at 9:33 a.m. ( Suggest removal )
I'll admit it, I see what you are saying and I don't think that what I said came out right. Perhaps it was the frustration having the entire public everyday discussing my job and how I should be doing it. If you don't teach, though, it's hard to explain how difficult it is to get everyone on track when many of your students are gone. My job is to make sure everyone learns so I have a hard time saying to the students who are not there (who may or may not have legitimate reasons) too bad, figure it out on your own time.
Posted on February 27 at 2:53 p.m. ( Suggest removal )
SarahB - Please refer to my original comment about how this situation is completely different than somebody being called in to work. This affects a huge number of people and it isn't as simple as you are making it sound.
Also, if 50% of my students show up, I certainly am not going to "give it my all" (like I'm sure all of you out there do everyday at your jobs) just to reteach to the other 50% the following Monday! It's not a matter of respecting a Saturday - it's about common sense.
Posted on February 27 at 11:03 a.m. ( Suggest removal )
It just doesn't make sense to compare this to any other type of job by saying that people need to just adjust to the new schedule. Most people's jobs do not affect thousands of people in Janesville. Here is a list of how we would be affected:
1. students have jobs (that they get paid for) or activities (that their parents pay for) that they really can't miss
2. teachers take classes (including graduate school) on the weekends that they can not miss (at least that was how my program was)or work second jobs on the weekends
3. teachers would have to find daycare for their own young children
4. many students have split custody where they are with another parent (possibly out of town) on the weekends
5. having school on Sat. would cost a ton - paying clerical staff, teacher's aids, food service staff, and bus drivers extra for the week
On School board responds to teachers
Posted on February 20 at 1:29 p.m. ( Suggest removal )
MOC0428 - that was a great article!
Page 1 of 2 | Next
On It's a whole new look: Graduation photo season is here
Posted on May 20 at 3:34 p.m. ( Suggest removal )
Check out toddaolsonphotography.com He's the guy who does the weekly sports shots of kids in The Jotter. He's taking senior photos now (there's a display at the mall) and I think his work rivals the others without being quite as expensive.