I can't speak for all charter schools, but I can speak for one I worked at in DC. It was a technology driven school. They bought an expensive online curriculum to be delivered by the teachers computer via the internet. One problem, no teacher computers no internet connection. I was there to teach 2 classes. An A+ certification class and a Visual Basic class. For about 30 students, we had 10 Apple computers which looked to be 5 to 10 years old. BTW, did I mention Visual Basic is a programming language that only works on Windows. We had no computers in the A+ classroom, which is a class on how to fix computers, so even broken ones would have worked so I could have at least shown them the components and how they went together. But the people who ran the school sure had nice clothes and drove nice cars.
Yeah, I'm trying to be nice. Charter schools are not panning well overall. I believe a slim majority or showing why privatizing education is a bad idea. Most of the rest are "okay", with too few being well run "successful" organizations. And I guess that's part of it...we all know what Trump's perception of success is. I just hope my wife keeps her job and isn't subjected to pay cuts...after Fairfax County Public Schools had the teachers on a near decade salary freeze with one recent boost to get everyone where they should have been about five years ago.
Paying teachers less...that's a brilliant idea. I will fully acknowledge that many of the high level administrators are paid insane amounts of money, but classroom teachers...the vast majority are grossly underpaid. Especially in states like VA, where there is no tenure or bullshit certifications that get you bumps. In VA you want a bump...get a masters (not easy work). Want another bump, get near another masters in credits or a PhD. Want another bump...that masters needed to be in educational administration and you've got to land a position as an assistant/vice-principal and hope to become a principal for any further pay increases. It may sound fine, but folks like my wife have NO interest in supervising teachers. Believe it or not, most teachers want to...
...get ready...
...brace yourselves...
...this is a tough pill to swallow...
...it may sound like an alternate fact...
...but it's the truth...
...the want to fucking teach!
It's never easy. It's not fucking day care. They are fighting against families and communities that do no value or support their efforts. Deluded people that believe they are overpaid and underworked, provided everything they need, get the summers off, and all the other bullshit. Again, most of these folks have a passion for education, especially that of young people. They want to help lay the foundations for these children to accomplish anything and everything they want.
Devos and the overwhelmingly large majority of elected GOP officials in the legislative and executive branches of all sizes of government in our country have not a fucking clue what it takes to teach. How hard it is, the hours, the lack of respect (including compensation), the amount of time and money when they are "off the clock" spent on teaching. Yeah, they'll vent about it, but they wake up before you and your kids and are still working well after to make sure they do their best for those kids. And summers off, most of them are fighting for summer school positions to help get through the summer OR working other jobs (either during the year, but especially) for the summer to get by. Most of them have kids too, that are going to their schools or other public schools. And older kids that they're sending to college.
But maybe that won't matter soon. Did I mention that this is pathetic? All the Dems voted against her and all but two (four at the most, if the independents voted for her) voted for someone that came off like a in idiot in general, but someone that is clearly clueless about education. Way to go!
I'll stop now and go back to avoiding this awesome thread. Sanity calls.
