A totally-not-failing imperial power calls on its National Guard to...act as substitute teachers

[Commissar SFLUFAN]

Yup - things are going just swimmingly in these here United States of America.  Just swimmingly.

 

States call in the National Guard to mitigate school staffing shortages

WWW.PBS.ORG

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For two years, the pandemic has hammered schools and accentuated the staffing shortages they are facing. It’s led to enormous problems with teacher morale, burnout, school closures and learning losses. But some states are using the National Guard to fill in the gaps. Becky Pringle, president of the National Education Association, which represents 3 million educators, joins Amna Nawaz to discuss.

 

[Guest]

From the stories I’ve heard from Guard friends, this sounds like a significantly more productive use of their time than what they typically do.

[Mr.Vic20]

Lieutenant Colonel CORONA?!  

 

• Dr. Cindy Sims:

  This is just a substitute with a different — a different attire on.

  Lieutenant Colonel Corona takes lesson plans home, reviews them the night before. She's very well-prepared. She is fully licensed, qualified, background check. So, she just — she does a phenomenal job. And it allows us to provide that continuity and consistency for our kids in person.

[CitizenVectron]

At this point it's not even because of COVID in most places. Well, it is, in the sense that day-to-day shortages are because people are out sick. But it's because there just aren't enough teachers and subs working. Why would anyone want to be a teacher these days?

[Keyser_Soze]

As long as they have their teaching credentials right?

[b_m_b_m_b_m]

My wife’s old school district usually has to replace 200-300 teachers every school year. They are estimating that this year they’ll have to replace 700+ teachers. One school they even did a midyear redistricting because so many teachers had quit!

[Air_Delivery]

I used to sub. They have increased pay here from 100 to 125 a day in 10 years and they require a 4 year degree. And with you basically going into a biohazard zone with the pandemic and all, yeah there are gonna be shortages. 

[Guest]

I haven’t looked around elsewhere, but I know the two school districts nearest to me have had a pretty substantial percentage of their older teachers retire and at a rate much higher than typically seen.

[Kal-El814]

I have no idea why anyone would want to be a teacher in the US at this specific moment in time.

[Commissar SFLUFAN]

1 minute ago, Kal-El814 said:

I have no idea why anyone would want to be a teacher in the US at this specific moment in time.

 

Hell, if I was retired or otherwise not gainfully employed, I'd GLADLY sign up just to see how far I could push things before parents demand my scalp!

[Ghost_MH]

1 hour ago, sblfilms said:

I haven’t looked around elsewhere, but I know the two school districts nearest to me have had a pretty substantial percentage of their older teachers retire and at a rate much higher than typically seen.

 

If you're older and within retirement age, why would you spend your day enclosed in a classroom with dozens of unvaccinated kids that struggle to wear masks right while the number of students pile up because your colleagues are quitting all around you and you can't take days off because there are no subs and politicians are increasingly pitting you against parents, all while the pay has been as shit as it's ever been considering your level of education and years of experience?

 

I've mentioned it before. My wife quit. She couldn't do it anymore. She was a special needs teacher and then also a math teacher and then also a science teacher while her students kept multiplying and teachers aids kept quitting because they were being used as permanent subs. Now she works at a boarding school where rich folk send their unwanted special needs kids.

[LazyPiranha]

1 hour ago, Commissar SFLUFAN said:

 

Hell, if I was retired or otherwise not gainfully employed, I'd GLADLY sign up just to see how far I could push things before parents demand my scalp!

So… before lunch?

[Commissar SFLUFAN]

3 minutes ago, LazyPiranha said:

So… before lunch?

 

My goal would be before the end of the second period!

[Kamusha]

I'm definitely taking advantages of the teacher shortages as I look to teach public school this fall. I live in a college town where it used to be hard to find a teaching job because all of the college kids tried to teach here after they graduated. Now it's so bad that they had to have a job fair in October to fill in vacancies for the rest of the school year. Kinda crazy, really.

[Jwheel86]

I had 2 Education Major friends in college, one has since left teaching and the other quit during her internship. The internship was full time, no pay (opposite, they paid tuition for the privilege to intern), and assigned to horror show poverty school districts. One friend was assigned to a kindergarten classroom where the teacher was about to go on maternity, they assigned a sub with no training so my friend had to take over. 

 

After graduation she was offered a $25k teaching salary. 

[Ghost_MH]

The fact that this isn't being treated like an existential threat to all schooling is beyond me. Even private schools aren't paying teacher much more than they're getting from public schools.

[skillzdadirecta]

4 hours ago, Air_Delivery said:

They have increased pay here from 100 to 125 a day in 10 years and they require a 4 year degree

That's fucking criminal.

[Comet]

3 hours ago, Kal-El814 said:

I have no idea why anyone would want to be a teacher in the US at this specific moment in time.

My wife is a teacher, well she was. She managed to secure a golden ticket and become an instructional specialist. She teaches teachers now. I couldn’t imagine teaching at all in todays climate. 

[skillzdadirecta]

It's crazy because I know a lot of people in my high school graduating class went on to become educators. A VERY high amount. I don't see that happening again in today's climate. This country showed teachers EXACTLY what they thought of them during this pandemic. Who wants to deal with that shit?

[Ghost_MH]

30 minutes ago, skillzdadirecta said:

That's fucking criminal.

 

A substitute teacher in our district needs a four year degree from QUALIFYING MASSACHUSETTS UNIVERSITIES AND COLLEGES. What? Have your masters in education from Yale just across the border? We're going to need you to complete these courses from a one of these state colleges first. One you've done that, you are welcome bask in the glory that is $125/day, no benefits, and this expensive does NOT count towards your seniority/pay scale when/if you decide to become a full time teacher here. Refuse to take those extra courses? That's fine, here's $100/day.

[Keyser_Soze]

4 hours ago, Commissar SFLUFAN said:

 

My goal would be before the end of the second period!

 

How about by the end of Homeroom? That was basically the point of downfall for one of my substitute teachers.

[Anathema-]

6 hours ago, Kal-El814 said:

I have no idea why anyone would want to be a teacher in the US at this specific moment in time.

 

Public-school* teacher. By design. 

[b_m_b_m_b_m]

7 hours ago, sblfilms said:

I haven’t looked around elsewhere, but I know the two school districts nearest to me have had a pretty substantial percentage of their older teachers retire and at a rate much higher than typically seen.

A lot of districts around Richmond have senior teachers essentially double dip: they’re retired but they’re high need so they come back with their (older, good) pension and then are paid for teaching

[thewhyteboar]

10 hours ago, Anathema- said:

 

Public-school* teacher. By design. 

All of this is intentional. Republicans hate public schools and hate education. They want American kids to attend creepy Calvinist charter schools run by Betsy DeVos and other morons of her ilk.