Granholm or Devos?
My Day:5:00 am: Get up, stumble to kitchen, make coffee, get in shower, do hair, etc.
6:40: Running WAY late, I dump over the rubber plant in the living room, and leave it so I can get to school.
7:15: Collect copies off copier, update field trip list, realize it’s parent visitation day. Crap. Not enough handouts and a destroy-able outfit.
7:35-11:55: teach like mad, prep students for Thursday’s test, administering a vocab quiz, go over handouts, deal with attendance contracts, lead discussion including parents, need to pee badly.
11:56: Pee. Have lunch, read email. Go on prep. Find out what my MSU seniors need in the next week. Call back two parents who have concerns. Make sub plans for Drama and Thr. Prd. (field trip tomorrow to Romeo & Juliet, six kids needed scholarships for ticket and bus. That’s a lot of cash out of pocket. I’ll call in sick because the kids can’t afford to pay for my sub…worry about budget). Grade vocab quizzes (don’t finish). RSVP to LCC costume shop for event Oct. 11 from 3-6 (must cancel tech, but hey, tons of free stuff). Draw up plans for a platform. Need to find time to photocopy the plans and clean out car.
1:30: Teach theatre production.
2:35: Grab snack of popcorn. Make a shop task list. Write down instructions for wallpaper application to the flats.
3:00: Tech. Wish desperately to sit down for just a moment.
5:20: Get bridesmaids dress from car on other side of the building.
5:40: Have dress fitted by costume mistress.
6:10: Go back to classroom. Shut down technology. Review attendance. Write first section of test for Thursday. Return parent phone call.
6:45: Head to post office. Don’t mail package.
7:10: Home. Cold pizza and a banana. David calls to talk Frankfurt.
8:20: Shower to get rid of paste in my hair. Vacuum. Watch debate.
Let’s talk for a moment about the gubernatorial race. I’m watching the debate and Devos make me want to hurl (I’m feeling very mature tonight). Governors don’t have control over federal policies like NAFTA and CAFTA. Therefore, how can he pretend he’ll keep good, well-paying manufacturing jobs in Michigan? Greensville. ‘Nuff said. How can he even summon the gall to talk about exporting GM cars to China when they pay a 3% tariff and we pay so much more?
Now let’s talk about my job. You read the above. Do I seem like a slacker? How much of a raise do you get per year? More than 2%? That’s where I’m at if the budget goes well. Less if it doesn’t. No chance for a bonus if income from monies attached to students who move into the district because I do my job well pushes our district balance higher.
My retirement is a pension. Awesome if the state stays stable and I teach in Michigan for ten years. As it is, if I move down to Ohio, I forfeit ALL of it. Minus the money I’ve contributed personally. Which can stay in an account and earn 2% annually.
And I have five point two three years and a Master’s degree!
Now don’t get me wrong, I think merit pay is a hole we don’t want to crawl down. But please don’t tell me I’m overcompensated.
Let’s talk about merit pay.
As a school it’s a bad idea. Given that parental involvement is the most significant predictor of student success, I don’t think I get credit for teaching a in a district with good parents that value education. And my colleagues shouldn’t be penalized for teaching in areas that are unsupportive of their children or who don’t value formal education. Let’s not even get into the monetary disparity issues.
As an individual I’d think merit pay was a great idea if I got the honors kids and didn’t have to take special education students’ scores into my success average. Isn’t it those students who aren’t supposed to be left behind? Do you want your average-minded (or below-average minded) kid in a school that makes them a liability to be sloughed off as soon as possible instead of a project to be helped along?
Honestly, I’d strike on that issue. No thanks Mr. Devos. No thanks.
posted by Me @ 21:41
5 Comments:
Curious. What has Granholm done to help any of your situation? School budgets have gotten the hardest to work with under her 4 years, and the cost for students in college has went up all over the state.
I agree DeVos is not ideal.
Granholm is in my opinion a waste of skin.
How do we get Alan elected? Lastly, I have always been under the impression you can cash out your money from the school system pension if you leave the school system...
-Mike
Pension-- The only money you can take with you is your personal contributions until you are vested (ten years actual service--no bought credit). After that you can roll over a portion of it, but it's definately a losing proposition. Better to wait and hope until you're sixty five, unless it does come to pass that the pensions as a whole collapse (they're facing the same issues as social security).
As for Granholm, she has come up with two raises in the per student funding, is accessible to her Dept of Ed (the chair dude reports to her each Friday) and is ditching the MEAP in favor of the Michigan Merit Exam (at least our kids all get a "free" ACT out of it--something many of them either couldn't afford or wouldn't bother to do. Maybe it'll push them to pursue training beyond HS).
The fact that Devos keeps repeating how upset he was that Detroit students were out of school while the staff struck and they need more choice is interesting--espcially since Detriot's charters have syphoned off more cash than any in the state. Then the closures. Then the returning students to the schools that haven't had the money from them for two or three years trying to play catch up with class sizes and materials. Oooo. Icky. I do NOT believe we need more charters.
If I've got to go the lesser of to evils, I'm going with Granholm.
One of my next posts is goign to be on Proposal Five... but it won't be so passionate.
Which do you think is the sadder state of affairs then? The state of education or the state of economics in Mich?
The two are too closely linked to seperate. We've got to move from manufacturing to other industries and almost all our options include a skilled workforce that is highly educated. Whether or not a full four year degree is necessary for all these jobs is up for debate, but from the stats the Dept of Labor is sending out, it's what employers want (though a two year or specialized training seems to insure living above the poverty line for most two-income families in Michigan for now).
Graholm's cool cities campaign has largely flopped, but hey, it's Michigan. Our weather alone is a deterrant for many.
I want someone to clearly tell me exactly how they plan to get families settled in Michigan (other than the rock-bottom real estate prices availble now). Neither candidate has.
After reading Devos' plan, I don't see how it can work without killing off a bunch of government jobs (ok, but that's a huge new unemployed population) and a few more in manufacturing while at the same time removing some state aid from higher education.
Granholm's not much better, but I think gettign Gooogle here is the direction we should be going to get and stay solvent, not attempting to compete with foreign manual trades.
Theses are my thoughts. Discuss.
Don't list google as a victory for her camp, she had nothing to do with it. Larry Page graduated from U of M and is in the midst of a VERY LARGE undertaking / deal with the library their. He has a place in his heart for Mich, not Granholm.
I do agree that Mich needs higher level tech jobs but waiting till her fourth year to actually get anything done, sorry not good enough.
Need higher education? Not so easily done with tuition costs increasing at nearly the highest rate in the nation during her governorship.
Companies do not want to come to Michigan due to the wage demands, overall Union mentality, and a Goverment that doesn't make it worth their while.
DeVos can't get rid of public education, he can only ask for more accountability. During an interview with the Detroit Free Press he stated he wants to see less money in administration and more money in the classrooms. Something that you can probably appreciate, as I know I can.
I think we just disagree on who is the lesser of the two evils.
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