All proponents talk about low pay and teacher retention!! NOOooobody Talks about the loss of learning for students!! Report, reality, opinions and recommendations by Robert A
Early this week Robert A caught a brief segment on WBTV-3 News about many school districts across the nation were advocating a 4-Day School Week to combat high teacher turnover. Robert A immediately remembered (1) counting 40 teacher resignations on last month’s CCS Personnel Report, (2) listening to School Board Member Danny Blanton ask Superintendent Stephen Fisher many times over the years about high teacher resignations and what was being done about it (Nothing was the reply from Fisher) as well as (3) hearing Supt. Fisher state at the last School Board meeting that Teacher resignations were now increasing to the point that the resignation rates were now a concern. Robert A also remembered all the times teachers and others at CCS confidentially expressing complaints and well-founded fears of CCS retaliation held by teachers as well as other CCS personnel if they were found out for talking to Robert A. Of every one of the many hundreds of the articles Robert A has written about the bad things that have happened at CCS, he could have written two or three more except for the fear of telling enough that the source could be identified and illegally punished by CCS for telling the truth of the matter.
Thinking about that WBTV-3 report, Robert A did a little research and found that there were indeed many reports from across the nation regarding a 4-Day School Work Week to help resolve an unsustainable and excessively high teacher turnover rate. But first decided to do a little mathematical analysis of a teacher’s work week and work year in comparison with the average working person.
An average working week for an average working person is five days per week times eight hours per day. A Year contains 52 weeks.
Considering NO overtime, an average working person would work as follows:
52 Weeks times five days equals 260 days available to work
Subtract 10 holidays and 15 days of vacation from 260 leaves 235 days to work in a year for an average working person.
North Carolina law prescribes the working days per year for schools is 185 days.
Therefore, a NC school teacher already works 50 days LESS than the average working person per year. That is a full 10 weeks less a school teacher works than the average working person per year.
Considering the average work day for an average working person is 8 am to 5 pm and for a School teacher is 8 am to 3 pm, this represents an average 2 hrs. per work day less that the average working person. A four-day work week would either represent a 20% reduction in the number of days from 185 days or require those extra days to be spread over more weeks. Nobody seems to have thought about that.
Now, for some evaluations:
1.For an average worker, less work would mean less pay. More work would provide more pay. Many average workers already work two jobs or sometimes more to just pay their bills. Average workers and taxpayers would probably not be sympathetic of teachers’ wanting even more time off at the same pay.
2.For the average 5 day a week worker and taxpayer with children in school, a 4-day school work week would mean additional expenses for child care. Or them also taking off an extra day per week at zero pay. Which results in less income for them and their family. It is obvious that a 4-day school work week would bankrupt many average worker families. Just as surely as the COVID-19 State ordered School Shutdown did. And our State and National economy is still recovering from that.
Just for these reasons alone, a 4-day school work week would eventually destroy our national economy and should be avoided at all costs.
However, there is ONE simple solution that every school district, and especially Cleveland County Schools, refuses to consider. That is making working conditions better teachers and other school employees AND STUDENTS better. Get rid of favoritism. Get rid of retaliation. Treat everybody with respect and fair play. Make the pay scale more equitable instead of the pay disparity between the very highly compensated Superintendent (well over $250,000+ counting salary and benefits) making 10X more than Teacher’s Aides and bus drivers. Also, develop a better and performance-based incentive pay system where performance is measured and appropriately rewarded. AND everybody is accountable for getting the job done properly and successfully.
Such a simple and effective solution will never be developed and implemented at CCS as long as Stephen Fisher is Superintendent and Robert Queen, Joel Shores, Ron Humphries, Rodney Fitch, Greg Taylor and Walter Scott Spurling are on the CCS School Board. Citizens and voters in Cleveland County can get rid of 5 of those 6 School Board duds, misfits, crooks and liars by running for the School Board and getting themselves elected in the 2024 School Board Elections. (Three County Commissioners too!) Otherwise, this whole discussion is academic and our children will continue to suffer the most from an unlearned and incomplete education caused by all our stupidity and unwise decisions made in prior elections.
WAKE-UP Cleveland County!!! The proper education of our children is depending on YOU!!