Tuesday, November 3, 2009

Days Off?

Trailer High had a three day weekend. I know. I know. The community complains that the kids are never in school. Part of that can be blamed on the States.

We are required (by the State) to have a certain number of inservice days every year. It is impossible to train teachers and work on school improvement plans with students in our classrooms. The students can't be left unattended to teach themselves, so the students have a day out of school.

Most schools schedule inservice days on National Holidays. This is great for the kids and their parents. The community thinks that schools have the holidays off, even though the teachers are still working and required to attend the inservice. A little misleading, I'd say.

Parent/Teacher conferences are scheduled in the evenings for parent convenience. Since the school districts aren't willing to pay teachers for additional hours on the clock, they give us a day off for compensation. It looks like a holiday. (I guess it is for the kids.) However, the teachers have already worked the hours, so it really isn't time off for us. It is simply a trade-off.

My three day weekend started out to be a good one. I spent some time browsing at a bookstore and doing a little shopping. Then I learned that the mother of a student had died.

This mother had four sons who had gone through our school system. The Mr. coached her older sons on the football field. Her baby is a senior. She was diagnosed with leukemia on Monday and died on Friday. Talk about a shock. We lost a good friend and a huge fan of our school. Her sons lost their biggest fan, too.

My three day weekend? I had a day off from school, but no one in education really gets a day off from being a teacher. I spent a lot of my weekend worrying about and praying for four farm boys who lost their mom without time to prepare for a future without her.

I'm still trying to figure out how to take time off from being a teacher. It is kind of like taking time off from being a parent. I don't think it is possible.

4 comments:

Gayle said...

That is so sad. My thoughts are with her children and her family and friends. I think you're probably right, for good teachers there are no days off.

joyce said...

I' glad to hear the "teacher's" side of all the "days off". It doesn sometimes seem like the kids hardly have 5 day weeks anymore.

How shocking & devastating for those poor boys...my greatest wish is that I live long enough for my boys to be able to take care of themselves. My thoughts are with the family, and with all who know them.

Relyn Lawson said...

Our PD day was today. It was fantastic!! But, Sloane has the flu - going on six days. So, I'm out again tomorrow and sitting up listening to her cough. Hoping she can sleep...

Pugelicious said...

Oh that is so sad. My thoughts and prayers are with her family - what a terrible shock. I have such admiration for what you do - what you do is just so important.