I love the kids but is working for DeKalb still viable for me?
AJC school reporter Maureen Downey is reporting that DeKalb County School teachers received contracts either offering a 6.25 percent cut in pay or a "delay letter" meaning that their position may not be refilled.
Even though a staffing audit showed that the teachers are already paid less than market compensation as compared to other administrative positions which are paid more, DeKalb is still cutting the teachers pay. DCSS has never adjusted salaries “down” to marketplace value for the overpaid non teaching employees. Simply making a 6.25% cut across the board is a very lazy and inequitable way to go.
The paragraph above was pulled from a comment in the article and seems spot on based on everything I have read. Maureen's article is linked above but I will post a few of the comments from the teachers directly affected.
- Don’t get me started about “delay letters.” Two of the best teachers at our school, who don’t teach core subjects, didn’t get a contract today. Is this a sneaky way of cutting programs by not hiring those teachers? If we had transparency on the true budget situation then we might could understand that drastic steps are needed. However, it seems to be a knee-jerk reaction to cut teachers and their pay, and even then DCSD can’t implement it smoothly. I feel so bad for the majority of our teachers, who go above and beyond and then get treated this way.
- What makes me so upset about this whole thing is that we do so much more than teach each day. I understand districts are cutting jobs and we should be grateful to have received a contract. However, how are we supposed to maintain a standard of living when the cost of living is going up so drastically? Principal and district-level position salaries are also public knowledge, and we know these people are NOT taking pay cuts, while the teachers- arguably those who do the most work and work the hardest for kids- are the ones receiving pay cuts. How does that make sense?
- Maureen help me out here because many teacher’s contract’s offered an amount BELOW the MINIMUM state salary listed on the State Salary Schedule. Is that legal?
Teachers are also commenting on the DeKalb School Watch Blog.
- With 35+ years in DeKalb classrooms, today the many victories that I have enjoyed watching my students achieve were stripped away in an envelope. I am now a “victim & casualty” of the DCSD classroom, as I brought home my letter of delayed contract renewal. I guess the DCSD administration does not value dedication, experience, content mastery, classroom management, or the success of a lifelong educator. For them, I cost too much at $65k (that’s with a M.Ed. And 35 yrs)! It’s so sad… mostly for our students, and I’m so disappointed in this school system.
- Today was a sad day in DeKalb. Students lost out on learning something today shortly before noon. The minute the first contracts came out…the look on the faces…the whispering in the hallway…even some tears. What has to be done to turn this around? Why spend tax payer dollars to have a study done and blatantly in our face say, “nah I didn’t like that suggestion” and go completely left field. Why? Someone in government needs to convince banks to allow families to qualify for these empty homes so that the money can flow again. Everyone understands that the economy is still not anywhere near where we would like it to be. This however is full of politics, bad politics, but politics none the less. Deceit, no one trusts anyone anymore. DeKalb is a joke, there needs to be government intervention to right this injustice. 18 more school days left….its gonna be quite an interesting finish.
