To The Interim Superintendent, Administrators and Members of the Board of Education of the Minneapolis Public Schools
115 Comments
T
Tom Feri
11 years ago
It's easy to slip into the habit of working obscene amounts of unpaid overtime. We do this just to have the freedom to do what needs to be done for students and families as well as what we're assigned. This ends up destroying many of us, insulates the District from the natural consequences of its choices and creates the opportunity for what’s turned out to be untold administrative mischief.
J
Justin Peik
11 years ago
What is being done is hurting students. As I want to do as much good as I can it pains me to see these decisions being made and then the teachers being blamed for the resulting negative effect.
C
Carol Dallman
11 years ago
I try to work no more than 50 hours a week, but most weeks that's not possible. I love my job, but, the workload is not sustainable. Somewhere around 50 hours a week, I am spending more time with my students than with my own family, and I never agreed to that. Tired, over-stressed teachers have neither the patience nor the energy to give students their best. I may have to leave teaching to find a healthy work/family balance.
Schools that are moving to new buildings need more time to get ready in the fall. Four days is not enough to set up a classroom from scratch, have necessary meetings, and prepare lessons.
A
Anonymous
11 years ago
This is a difficult thing. I work 15-20 hours more a week than what I'm paid for every week, and that's probably true for most teachers. I do it because, in my profession, those are the hours it takes to do the job correctly. That's just how it is. If we don't lose our preps to meetings and we don't put in all of those extra hours planning, entering data, reporting, grading, etc, then we cannot be proficient in this line of work. I come from a district that has 5 more days than we do and the hours are longer...it hasn't done ANYTHING to test scores. What we need is more planning time with our colleagues. TRUE research has shown more time outside and shorter days are beneficial (see Finland). We can't compare ourselves to places like Japan because not all children get a free and public education there, for one thing. Their culture is different (as is Finland I suppose) and their teachers do not have the small amount of planning time. The days they have, what is it, 210 days?? So many of those days are planning days; they aren't all student contact days. I bring this up because, at one meeting a couple of years ago in the summer, we were told be district personnel that the reasoning behind more hours in school was research based on what is going on in Japan. Anyhow, I love my job. I love working with kids. I do feel strained and know I will always be working a 1.5 but not getting compensated for it; it'd be nice if that were acknowledged and...who knows? Maybe one day we could be paid for these hours. I just wish we had more time to plan and that the powers that be knew that adding on minutes and days really won't help.
A
Anonymous
11 years ago
In order for me to do my job, you must give me time to do my job.
A
Anonymous
11 years ago
In order for me to do my job, you must give me time to do my job.
A
Anonymous
11 years ago
In order for me to do my job, you must give me time to do my job.
K
Kirstin Parker
11 years ago
I come to school at 7:00 a.m. and I leave at 6:00 p.m., yet I am only paid from 7:15-3:15. If I did not stay the extra time, I would not be prepared for my students, the paperwork I am required to do would not get done nor would anything else that is "required" of me. Please find a way that I can do my job during my duty day!
A
Anonymous
11 years ago
"We are documenting that we are documenting our documenting.... This is not helping to improve student outcomes." Thank you whoever wrote this!!! Seems some people with administrative authority see this gathering of documentation as a magic bullet to increase student achievement. This is actually ridiculous on many levels. Also, we have a negotiated duty-day and EVERYONE KNOWS THAT ALL TEACHERS ROUTINELY DONATE HOURS ABOVE AND BEYOND THEIR DUTY DAY. It's such a rip-off!! There is definitely a covert message that GOOD and CARING teachers just do this and if you don't your not very good or caring. Let us prepare and teach!!! We know what to do. I don't need more PD to get ready to give great teaching to students. I AM a great teacher now!
M
Mary Roffers
11 years ago
A seven period day would be very difficult for students with severe disabilities, as many of them struggle to make it through the current school day. My fear is that there will not be the support necessary to help these students transition to a longer day. It will also be extremely difficult to find times to plan with ESP staff, and have meetings with families.
A
Anonymous
11 years ago
Working 6:30 am - 5:30 many days doesn't seem right.
A
Anonymous
11 years ago
I need more classroom prep time during Workshop Week and less PD that is not with my grade level. I need more time in my classroom after school during the school year. My prep is used for IEP and intake meetings and I'm not even a spec ed teacher. Weekly PD should take place simultaneously with PDPLC instead of being 2 separate meetings. I donate at least 10 hours/wk to my school beyond what I'm paid for. How low would student achievement drop if I stop that?
D
David Bruns
11 years ago
More work needs to be done to o look at the comprehensive workload and comprehensive expectations and then simplify the entire system. This does not mean "dumbing down" the curriculum, the effect will be the opposite!
A
Anonymous
11 years ago
I understand that the district is desperate to save money, but I feel like they are taking advantage of dedicated teachers. They know that even if they don't give teachers enough time to prep, we will do it anyways on our own time because we know that it's the students who suffer as a result. The only reason this district is still remotely close to functioning is because of the teachers who are here and have the student's best interest at heart.
A
Amy Matison
11 years ago
The middle school start/end times at my building have nearly completely eliminated time for teachers not on the same team or with common prep times to collaborate. At one point, teacher collaboration was a stated goal of the district. This district has a long-standing issue of adding new initiatives, but rarely does anything come "off the table" to help relieve teacher workloads.
M
Mary Sjoberg
11 years ago
We need time to be ready for students not sitting in meetings all week.
B
Bill Towne
11 years ago
If we're going to go to 50 minute classes with only 40 minutes of time before classes begin and only 30 minutes after school, how am I ever going to let students make up their 50 minute exams? Is there an expectation that multiple times a week I will have to proctor exams on my own time?
A
Abbie Karsh
11 years ago
We are documenting that we are documenting our documenting.... This is not helping to improve student outcomes.
A
Anonymous
11 years ago
I am about to retire after 35 years on the district. I leave with a heavy heart knowing that this district is made up of skilled, concerned staff that have so little support to get the job done to help students succeed. Please listen to solutions that come from sites. Our challenges are greater than what individual staff can change.
It's easy to slip into the habit of working obscene amounts of unpaid overtime. We do this just to have the freedom to do what needs to be done for students and families as well as what we're assigned. This ends up destroying many of us, insulates the District from the natural consequences of its choices and creates the opportunity for what’s turned out to be untold administrative mischief.
What is being done is hurting students. As I want to do as much good as I can it pains me to see these decisions being made and then the teachers being blamed for the resulting negative effect.
I try to work no more than 50 hours a week, but most weeks that's not possible. I love my job, but, the workload is not sustainable. Somewhere around 50 hours a week, I am spending more time with my students than with my own family, and I never agreed to that. Tired, over-stressed teachers have neither the patience nor the energy to give students their best. I may have to leave teaching to find a healthy work/family balance. Schools that are moving to new buildings need more time to get ready in the fall. Four days is not enough to set up a classroom from scratch, have necessary meetings, and prepare lessons.
This is a difficult thing. I work 15-20 hours more a week than what I'm paid for every week, and that's probably true for most teachers. I do it because, in my profession, those are the hours it takes to do the job correctly. That's just how it is. If we don't lose our preps to meetings and we don't put in all of those extra hours planning, entering data, reporting, grading, etc, then we cannot be proficient in this line of work. I come from a district that has 5 more days than we do and the hours are longer...it hasn't done ANYTHING to test scores. What we need is more planning time with our colleagues. TRUE research has shown more time outside and shorter days are beneficial (see Finland). We can't compare ourselves to places like Japan because not all children get a free and public education there, for one thing. Their culture is different (as is Finland I suppose) and their teachers do not have the small amount of planning time. The days they have, what is it, 210 days?? So many of those days are planning days; they aren't all student contact days. I bring this up because, at one meeting a couple of years ago in the summer, we were told be district personnel that the reasoning behind more hours in school was research based on what is going on in Japan. Anyhow, I love my job. I love working with kids. I do feel strained and know I will always be working a 1.5 but not getting compensated for it; it'd be nice if that were acknowledged and...who knows? Maybe one day we could be paid for these hours. I just wish we had more time to plan and that the powers that be knew that adding on minutes and days really won't help.
In order for me to do my job, you must give me time to do my job.
In order for me to do my job, you must give me time to do my job.
In order for me to do my job, you must give me time to do my job.
I come to school at 7:00 a.m. and I leave at 6:00 p.m., yet I am only paid from 7:15-3:15. If I did not stay the extra time, I would not be prepared for my students, the paperwork I am required to do would not get done nor would anything else that is "required" of me. Please find a way that I can do my job during my duty day!
"We are documenting that we are documenting our documenting.... This is not helping to improve student outcomes." Thank you whoever wrote this!!! Seems some people with administrative authority see this gathering of documentation as a magic bullet to increase student achievement. This is actually ridiculous on many levels. Also, we have a negotiated duty-day and EVERYONE KNOWS THAT ALL TEACHERS ROUTINELY DONATE HOURS ABOVE AND BEYOND THEIR DUTY DAY. It's such a rip-off!! There is definitely a covert message that GOOD and CARING teachers just do this and if you don't your not very good or caring. Let us prepare and teach!!! We know what to do. I don't need more PD to get ready to give great teaching to students. I AM a great teacher now!
A seven period day would be very difficult for students with severe disabilities, as many of them struggle to make it through the current school day. My fear is that there will not be the support necessary to help these students transition to a longer day. It will also be extremely difficult to find times to plan with ESP staff, and have meetings with families.
Working 6:30 am - 5:30 many days doesn't seem right.
I need more classroom prep time during Workshop Week and less PD that is not with my grade level. I need more time in my classroom after school during the school year. My prep is used for IEP and intake meetings and I'm not even a spec ed teacher. Weekly PD should take place simultaneously with PDPLC instead of being 2 separate meetings. I donate at least 10 hours/wk to my school beyond what I'm paid for. How low would student achievement drop if I stop that?
More work needs to be done to o look at the comprehensive workload and comprehensive expectations and then simplify the entire system. This does not mean "dumbing down" the curriculum, the effect will be the opposite!
I understand that the district is desperate to save money, but I feel like they are taking advantage of dedicated teachers. They know that even if they don't give teachers enough time to prep, we will do it anyways on our own time because we know that it's the students who suffer as a result. The only reason this district is still remotely close to functioning is because of the teachers who are here and have the student's best interest at heart.
The middle school start/end times at my building have nearly completely eliminated time for teachers not on the same team or with common prep times to collaborate. At one point, teacher collaboration was a stated goal of the district. This district has a long-standing issue of adding new initiatives, but rarely does anything come "off the table" to help relieve teacher workloads.
We need time to be ready for students not sitting in meetings all week.
If we're going to go to 50 minute classes with only 40 minutes of time before classes begin and only 30 minutes after school, how am I ever going to let students make up their 50 minute exams? Is there an expectation that multiple times a week I will have to proctor exams on my own time?
We are documenting that we are documenting our documenting.... This is not helping to improve student outcomes.
I am about to retire after 35 years on the district. I leave with a heavy heart knowing that this district is made up of skilled, concerned staff that have so little support to get the job done to help students succeed. Please listen to solutions that come from sites. Our challenges are greater than what individual staff can change.
Thank YOU!