Tell Us: Making Up Class Time in Port Washington

Joseph Mirzoeff November 27, 2012 at 02:39 pm

This is a compromise. The new calendar says 181 days even with the put back, we contract for 184 -- but the teachers live here and have suffered from Sandy as well. On the other hand, one reason why we are flagging other countries is our relatively short education hours per day and few days per year (meanwhile USA costs are #1 internationally). Compensation is very high here in Port Washington -- the median teacher gets $113,000 base pay plus a $37,000 benefits package, $150,000 altogether, for 60% of normal working hours. Our students should be entitled to more education hours for this pay -- this is especially important for needy students and competitive students. Teaching is an important job, our solid compensation should merit more effort toward quality.

Arguendo November 27, 2012 at 03:02 pm

Put the whole week back. It's going to be a bad winter, and we'll lose more days.

Sean Hassett November 28, 2012 at 01:10 pm

If we make the school hours longer, then teachers will have less time to spend checking work, correcting exams, grading tests, planning classes, etc. Given their educational requirements and long hours, their pay seems fair when compared with other professions.

matteo November 28, 2012 at 02:01 pm

Agreed with Sean; but Union rules (eg tenure) stifles progress. We need real reform, better ways to monitor teacher performance, and weed out the 5-10% bad ones, instead of transferring them between districts.