I take the teacher sickout in stride for a number of reasons.
Partly, I think about the short-term consequences and the long-term consequences and try to balance those against realities.
I could complain mightily because as a sub, I've lost two days of pay. For me, this doesn't affect my family's ability to eat or pay bills, so I take it in stride, but I understand how subs who do rely on the pay each day would be frustrated.
That is the short-term view, and I know that there are plenty of people who are focused on the short-term because they do not have the luxury of focusing on the long-term.
The short-term view individual may be frustrated that kids are out of school today because it is an inconvenience. Having to wrangle child care is frustrating, although if it were snowing or flooding or too cold, that frustration would still exist. Or if the child was sick. Or if the school was closed due to flu. Being aworking parent means having to deal with all kinds of unexpected issues.
The short term view also worries about what kids are missing each day they are out of school and how that will impact them overall for the year.
All of these short-term concerns are valid. I have some of them myself.
But that doesn't mean the long-term doesn't matter.
The long-term view is that the school year will run longer, so subs who are missing pay now can make up for it when the days are extended into June.
The long-term view is that childcare people would have had to figure out for the end of May or early June is a non-issue because children will be going to school then.
The long-term view is that for most kids, losing some educational time is not going to make a dent in their overall education if their parents are doing things like reading with them each day and providing cultural opportunities and talking to their children. And the children whose parents don't do these things and never have are already so behind that missing a few days of school isn't going to make them significantly worse. If a 6th grader can only read at a 4th-grade level, these three (or four or five or however many) sickout days don't mean beans.
I say this from my own 4th-grade experience when my teacher became ill, and we had a series of substitute teachers. If you have a good sub, children can learn. If you have a crap sub, not much happens. (To be fair: if you have a teacher who leaves crap plans and has never had good management of a classroom, not much happens either). I went to a private school, and 4th grade was a bust.
Somehow, though, I ended up with a master's degree plus credits (which has more to do with my parents being educated and on my ass about my education and in a stable marriage and financially sound).
The long-term view is also why the sickouts are occurring. If charter schools are funded, this is going to have a long-term impact on public schools that will affect subs, parents, and students in ways that few people fully understand.
Myself included.
I don't KNOW what charter schools would mean. But I have CONCERNS about what they would look like and how they would impact public education.
When I'm feeling particularly fatalistic, I just want charter schools to come around and let the chips fall where they may. Let's see whether they are as wonderfully redemptive as some people make them out to be. A recent news story out of Nashville, TN suggests that they may not be as fantastic as they seem.
And this one out of Buffalo, NY.
And in New Orleans, LA.
These are just three news stories.
But that's a lot of potential disruption to a child's education, and I would venture to say schools closing their doors forever seems far more disruptive than three or four sickout days.
(Let me say that I don't always or necessarily agree with the funding decisions by public school districts. I think money is sometimes spent wastefully. But there is a certain amount of transparency that may not happen with private/charter schools).
So what concerns do I have about charter schools?
1. Skill?
Teachers in public education have to meet certain pretty stringent qualifications, which charter school teachers do not have to have. Just because a teacher has an advanced degree does not mean he/she is amazing, but it means they have had instruction in child development and the content they teach.
Just as I wouldn't want a plumber to do my sinus surgery, I wouldn't want someone without a teaching degree to teach my kids for any great length of time. I wouldn't want someone who has never taken a woodworking class or apprenticed to take a whack at my hardwood flooring.
2. What happens to the remaining public schools and their students?
If charter schools come along and siphon students, then the students who are left in public schools may be the toughest kids to teach, the kids who have the lowest opportunities and structure outside of school. What happens if all the charter schools are full of the "wonderful" kids, and my kid or YOUR kid has to attend the public school where a large portion of the well-behaved, highly motivated kids no longer attend. What is going to happen to your child's education if this situation occurs? Because not every kid will be guaranteed a spot in charter schools. Your kid, whom you think might make it into a charter school, might not.
If this is the situation, what kinds of teachers are the public schools going to be able to hire? If your kid doesn't get into the charter school, then you may be left with the coffee dregs, not only in terms of the student population but also teacher qualifications.
(I don't know this for certain, but it is a question I have.)
3. Closings
If a charter school your child attends shuts down, what rights do their parents have to their children's transcripts, and what rights to students have to their credits?
What happens if a child's charter high school closes down, and the child goes to another private charter school? Is it possible that the charter school makes them jump through extra hoops or payments in the form of summer classes? I don't know, but I have this question.
What happens if a charter school closes down, and the owners/operators simply vanish? How does a parent get a record of credits and classes to give to the new charter school? While this news story out of Michigan is from 2016, I find the situation troubling.
And a general thing that perturbs me:
Our district provides a school calendar, and on this calendar, it shows the absolute last day that students could possibly have school if school is called off for whatever reason. That date for this year is June 11. The days when school could be extended to beyond what we "hope" is the last day are always highlighted in a color, typically yellow.
With these sickout days, I have seen many parents complaining about their summer plans being ruined. Something as simple as a calendar is either misread or actively ignored by parents. Parents plan their vacations for these "yellow--potential to be school days if school has to be canceled." So either parents misunderstand the calendar, or they did what they wanted to do and hoped that school would be done in accordance with their vacation wishes.
Parents have every right to decide to pull their kids out early if they are going on vacation, but it drives me nuts that they bellyache about it. The district tells parents the dates when school MAY happen due to unforeseen circumstances. Usually, those circumstances are weather, but sometimes they are not. If you don't want to feel bad about pulling your kids out of school, then don't plan your vacation until after those dates have passed.
Today's rant/lecture is over.
Partly, I think about the short-term consequences and the long-term consequences and try to balance those against realities.
I could complain mightily because as a sub, I've lost two days of pay. For me, this doesn't affect my family's ability to eat or pay bills, so I take it in stride, but I understand how subs who do rely on the pay each day would be frustrated.
That is the short-term view, and I know that there are plenty of people who are focused on the short-term because they do not have the luxury of focusing on the long-term.
The short-term view individual may be frustrated that kids are out of school today because it is an inconvenience. Having to wrangle child care is frustrating, although if it were snowing or flooding or too cold, that frustration would still exist. Or if the child was sick. Or if the school was closed due to flu. Being a
The short term view also worries about what kids are missing each day they are out of school and how that will impact them overall for the year.
All of these short-term concerns are valid. I have some of them myself.
But that doesn't mean the long-term doesn't matter.
The long-term view is that the school year will run longer, so subs who are missing pay now can make up for it when the days are extended into June.
The long-term view is that childcare people would have had to figure out for the end of May or early June is a non-issue because children will be going to school then.
The long-term view is that for most kids, losing some educational time is not going to make a dent in their overall education if their parents are doing things like reading with them each day and providing cultural opportunities and talking to their children. And the children whose parents don't do these things and never have are already so behind that missing a few days of school isn't going to make them significantly worse. If a 6th grader can only read at a 4th-grade level, these three (or four or five or however many) sickout days don't mean beans.
I say this from my own 4th-grade experience when my teacher became ill, and we had a series of substitute teachers. If you have a good sub, children can learn. If you have a crap sub, not much happens. (To be fair: if you have a teacher who leaves crap plans and has never had good management of a classroom, not much happens either). I went to a private school, and 4th grade was a bust.
Somehow, though, I ended up with a master's degree plus credits (which has more to do with my parents being educated and on my ass about my education and in a stable marriage and financially sound).
The long-term view is also why the sickouts are occurring. If charter schools are funded, this is going to have a long-term impact on public schools that will affect subs, parents, and students in ways that few people fully understand.
Myself included.
I don't KNOW what charter schools would mean. But I have CONCERNS about what they would look like and how they would impact public education.
When I'm feeling particularly fatalistic, I just want charter schools to come around and let the chips fall where they may. Let's see whether they are as wonderfully redemptive as some people make them out to be. A recent news story out of Nashville, TN suggests that they may not be as fantastic as they seem.
And this one out of Buffalo, NY.
And in New Orleans, LA.
These are just three news stories.
But that's a lot of potential disruption to a child's education, and I would venture to say schools closing their doors forever seems far more disruptive than three or four sickout days.
(Let me say that I don't always or necessarily agree with the funding decisions by public school districts. I think money is sometimes spent wastefully. But there is a certain amount of transparency that may not happen with private/charter schools).
So what concerns do I have about charter schools?
1. Skill?
Teachers in public education have to meet certain pretty stringent qualifications, which charter school teachers do not have to have. Just because a teacher has an advanced degree does not mean he/she is amazing, but it means they have had instruction in child development and the content they teach.
Just as I wouldn't want a plumber to do my sinus surgery, I wouldn't want someone without a teaching degree to teach my kids for any great length of time. I wouldn't want someone who has never taken a woodworking class or apprenticed to take a whack at my hardwood flooring.
2. What happens to the remaining public schools and their students?
If charter schools come along and siphon students, then the students who are left in public schools may be the toughest kids to teach, the kids who have the lowest opportunities and structure outside of school. What happens if all the charter schools are full of the "wonderful" kids, and my kid or YOUR kid has to attend the public school where a large portion of the well-behaved, highly motivated kids no longer attend. What is going to happen to your child's education if this situation occurs? Because not every kid will be guaranteed a spot in charter schools. Your kid, whom you think might make it into a charter school, might not.
If this is the situation, what kinds of teachers are the public schools going to be able to hire? If your kid doesn't get into the charter school, then you may be left with the coffee dregs, not only in terms of the student population but also teacher qualifications.
(I don't know this for certain, but it is a question I have.)
3. Closings
If a charter school your child attends shuts down, what rights do their parents have to their children's transcripts, and what rights to students have to their credits?
What happens if a child's charter high school closes down, and the child goes to another private charter school? Is it possible that the charter school makes them jump through extra hoops or payments in the form of summer classes? I don't know, but I have this question.
What happens if a charter school closes down, and the owners/operators simply vanish? How does a parent get a record of credits and classes to give to the new charter school? While this news story out of Michigan is from 2016, I find the situation troubling.
And a general thing that perturbs me:
Our district provides a school calendar, and on this calendar, it shows the absolute last day that students could possibly have school if school is called off for whatever reason. That date for this year is June 11. The days when school could be extended to beyond what we "hope" is the last day are always highlighted in a color, typically yellow.
With these sickout days, I have seen many parents complaining about their summer plans being ruined. Something as simple as a calendar is either misread or actively ignored by parents. Parents plan their vacations for these "yellow--potential to be school days if school has to be canceled." So either parents misunderstand the calendar, or they did what they wanted to do and hoped that school would be done in accordance with their vacation wishes.
Parents have every right to decide to pull their kids out early if they are going on vacation, but it drives me nuts that they bellyache about it. The district tells parents the dates when school MAY happen due to unforeseen circumstances. Usually, those circumstances are weather, but sometimes they are not. If you don't want to feel bad about pulling your kids out of school, then don't plan your vacation until after those dates have passed.
Today's rant/lecture is over.
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