Do you actyaully know any teachers who have the summer off?

[bluestateguy]

I can say that I only knew one, and that was because she had a rich husband and she had otherwise already earned her stripes in the profession.

Every other teacher I have known continues working in the summer in one or a combination of the following jobs: community college instructor, coaching a sport, tutoring, teaching driver's ed, teaching summer school, teaching SAT or ACT prep courses, taking graduate level courses to earn a Masters or postgraduate degree, attending teaching conferences, and working on peer reviewed publications for professional educational journals.

This crock about teachers getting the summer off is about 99% bullshit.

[Matariki]

1. yes.

[Modern_Matthew]

2. Many teachers here take the Summer off. But it's unpaid.

They still get paid during the Summer, but it's from their salary being stretched out over a 12-month period.

[SharonAnn]

30. Anather way to look at it: 9 months of pay spread over 12 months

[roguevalley]

36. that's how most I know did it. I took mine for nine months because

I couldn't live on it any other way and saved enough starting in January to eke out the summer. I had parents to take care of and we pooled. Otherwise I would have not been able to do this. Remember that the next time you see Derek Jeter play ball.

[proud2BlibKansan]

3. Only a few

The vast majority work or go to school in the summer.

[Dappleganger]

4. No.

The most that the teachers around here typically get total is a month off, due to the amount of training they need to take on their time and dime.

[Nevernose]

5. You forgot summer school

Which is what I use to pay my student loans the rest of the year.

It's usually pretty easy for me to get that gig, since I'm not only willing to work at a behavioral site (the frisks the kids get every morning and at random intervals is way more invasive than anything TSA does regularly), but most of the other teachers in this district -- somewhere around 25 thousand of them -- are too burnt and exhausted from the regular school year to teach anymore high school freshmen. I know that by mid-May I'm literally on the verge of a nervous breakdown from the phenomenal amounts of stress I'm under, but summer school is also the only way I can make ends meet and maintain a middle class standard of living.

[LiberalAndProud]

6. My mother attended college for continuing education courses during many summers.

She came home on weekends. She paid the tuition. This was 30-35 years ago, but I suspect the tradition continues.

[kas125]

7. I worked at an elementary school for ten years and nearly

all the teachers I know work in the summer doing exactly the things you listed. And lots of them waitress on weekends, work at the school supply store or the mall, do paid tutoring, sell makeup, make jewelry or embellished sweatshirts or other crafts to sell. And they don't only have to do those things in the summer, but all year long.

[proud2BlibKansan]

10. I worked two part time jobs for the first 20 years I taught.

Plus summer school.

[Zoigal]

8. Perhaps this might clarify why many think that teachers get paid during

summer months. Many districts divide their salary (normally around 180 days) into twelve payments.
Some holidays are paid, others like the winter breaks, etc aren't. Depends on their contracts. Basically they get paid for only the number of days they are contracted to teach and that's all. Most of the teachers i worked with had some type of job during the summers.....z

[Snoutport]

9. 7th year teacher, no summers off yet.

For my job (special ed) I have to have a masters. I make $41,000 after taxes and my student loans my take home is just under $2000 a month. I spend $100 a month on my students and for supplies.

I taught summer school the first three years but the pay was terrible so I took a second job. I work over Christmas break, over spring break and all summer long. I haven't been on a vacation for six years and my car is a 96.

But, I love my job. :0) and I like working so it's all good. But it hurts to hear that I'm "entitled" or over paid.

[ReggieVeggie]

11. I know many teachers who have nearly the whole summer off

I'm sure they could work if they opted to, but most want the time off.

[Lugnut]

12. Yes.

My neighbor has the Summer off. Teachers in our school district get pro-rated paychecks all year around.

[joeglow3]

38. Yes.

2 couples we are friends are both teachers. They occasionally coach or work at the local minor league park, but it is just for something to do.

[FrenchieCat]

13. Yes....my first cousin and BF.

She has a small child and looks forward to Summer.

[lunamagica]

14. Yes, I do. No rich husband for them either. eom

[emilyg]

15. yes.

[avaistheone1]

16. Yes

[Rhiannon12866]

17. My friend teaches second grade, works in a men's store during the summer.

He says he spends most of his time there folding shirts. :(

[cali]

18. yes.

[darkstar3]

19. You've never heard of X-month contracts?

These were standard where I grew up. (I only know this because my mother was highly involved in such processes.) As I remember:

Most teachers have a 10-month contract. They generally start a bit before the school year, and work for a significant period after the academic year for standard in-service, training, and paperwork-type things. Then there are 2 months over the summer that they "have off" without pay.

Some teachers, like those who teach a summer school session, have 11-month contracts. But even with summer-school, at least where I grew up, there was a little more than a month when the school was unoccupied by students.

Staffers generally have 11 or 12-month contracts, depending on the nature of the work they do.

And at the end of every year, the school district can always choose whether or not to renew all of these contracts, thereby ensuring that each and every faculty and staff member fears for the longevity of the job they had to train and slave for. This feature also allows them to get paid jack-shit, because anyone who asks for a raise could just have their contract dropped at the end of the year for new talent willing to work for peanuts. And if the school district can't find a new English teacher, well, it's not like they haven't run short-staffed before, and they can always pawn that responsibility off on another teacher who just learned that you don't rock the boat if you want to work...

Oh, no, I'm not bitter that I live in a "right to work" state...

[WCIL]

20. My SIL takes the summer off

she teaches BD classes(and does a damn fine job) and needs the summer to re-charge. Most of the others I know work second jobs during the school year and over the summer. 4 of my high school teachers had a thriving summer house painting business. Summer school here is now remedial only, and there are not enough summer school positions for all the teachers who would like to have one.

[proud2BlibKansan]

41. Painting houses is working

And the days can be pretty long too.

[WCIL]

48. Yes, I agree

I was pointing out that except for my SIL, all the teachers I know/knew worked, just not at teaching over the summer. The house painters worked really hard and were always booked for the summer.

[REP]

21. All the teachers I know take the summer off

One goes on vacation to somewhere that requires a passport (4th grade); another spends it at the beach (HS history) and the other travels and has a good time (3rd grade). Two are close friends and one is a close friend and SIL.

[proud2BlibKansan]

42. You know me here. I don't take the summer off.

I know very few teachers who can afford to do so. And I don't know any who travel on a passport in the summer. That's comical.

[Smarmie Doofus]

22. I teach 12 mos school year. Some younger colleagues...

... take summer off. ( No kids.)

I can't afford to.

[Dorian Gray]

23. Yes

I have a lot of friends who are teachers. Many of them take the summer off. (But now that they've been working for 15+ years in the field, they are making enough to do so.) Most of them did teach summer school or take courses in that time up until a few years ago. (Including my husband.) Now they enjoy their time. A couple still teach summer school in July, but take the month of August to recharge.

I don't think that there is any shame in that. When you are teaching, you worry about school 24-7. The summer months are a much needed recharge.

[ProdigalJunkMail]

24. I don't teach any longer...

but I worry about my work 24-7 as well...so that argument is crap. Most people I know who have a job that is salaried worry about their jobs 24-7.

sP

[Dorian Gray]

26. What argument?

I wasn't ARGUING anything. I bet you enjoy your vacation time to recharge, as well, then.

[ProdigalJunkMail]

35. you put forth the point that they NEED

the summer break because they worry about school 24-7...my point is that MOST people who have a career worry 24-7...but I never get 2 and a half months off.

sP

[AngryAmish]

25. Almost every one I know

But most of them were drunks anyway (I hang out in bars a lot, or at least used to more than I do now.)

[TexasProgresive]

27. Not the ones I know

You left out pizza delivery which one teacher I know did part time during the school year and full time in the summer when he wasn't in school himself.

When my Dad taught they had an option of taking their pay in 9 months or spread over 10. This left them with 2 or 3 months of no pay and the pay wasn't great.

I don't understand how they can demonize teachers who do sacrifice so much to their students for so little recognition and recompense while the school administrators are all over paid.

Edited for syntax

[Reader Rabbit]

28. I can take them off now, but I've been teaching for 17 years.

Until 3-4 years ago, I still did temp work in the summer to make ends meet. And regardless, I still take classes and go to lectures in the summer to keep my knowledge and skills updated.

[WinkyDink]

29. Yes: me. And my retired teacher husband. We worked like the proverbial dogs DURING the school year.

And we went to Europe in the summer. No kids. no pets. Lived in a row-home. One car.

[lapislzi]

31. Yes, sadly.

A former boyfriend of mine is exactly the type to give teachers a bad name. He would do the barest minimum amount of work required to earn his salary and keep his job.

He CHOSE to work in a low-paying charity-run school for kids awaiting foster care placement because he "couldn't stand dealing with parents." He has maybe 10 students at a time.

Every time he attended a mandatory development class or seminar, he would grouse.

And yet, he boasts about having "the gift" and being able to "reach" at-risk kids.

I call bullshit. (Note the use of the word "former" in the first sentence.)

[Obamanaut]

32. Very few people have the summer off. nt

[ehrnst]

33. My divorced mom taught elementary school, and my sister and I were eligible for free lunches.

You bet she worked in the Summer once we were old enough not to need a sitter.

[bigwillq]

34. Yes (nt)

[liberalhistorian]

37. No, I don't, frankly. I grew up with teaches and they sure

didn't get it off. My mom taught at a state juvenile reformatory, so not only did she not get summers off, she didn't get all the other holidays and "free time" off that people are always hollering and ranting about teachers getting. And teachers aren't paid during the summer, so my stepdad always had another job during the summer. Same was true for most of the other teachers I knew and have known, then and now. I am SICK TO DEATH of this fucking teacher bashing by people, even here, who have NO fucking clue what it's like. NONE. But everyone thinks they do since they were all in school at one point. That means jackshit. I go to doctors for treatment and have been in hospitals and clinics, but does that mean that I know how to be a medical worker or how to run a facility? Hell no.

[proud2BlibKansan]

43. +1

[Bigmack]

39. I took summers off in the last few years of teaching....

top of the (teacher) salary scale... unless I got a Phd... maximum number of years of service, and a few bucks ahead.

Until that time, it was go to school summers AND work. I drove a cab, worked in sporting goods, did construction, built my house, was a logger... you name it.

A teacher doesn't have summers off... that is a yearly layoff. The reason most school districts pay 1/12 of the teacher pay is to keep them from getting unemployment during the summer lay-off.

We got paid for 185 days. That's it. Everything else is a layoff.

[LWolf]

40. I spend my summers:

Scoring state writing exams for extra $$. Tutoring or teaching summer school if I can get a position; there's a lot of competition, and since the only students who are eligible for summer school in my area are those who are several years behind, it's usually the sped teachers that get those positions.

Taking classes to keep my license current.

Writing curriculum, reviewing the previous year, and planning for the next.

Attending teaching conferences.

This summer I'll be finishing one class, taking another, scoring state writing exams, revamping my plans for next year to fit the reforms my district is implementing, attending in-district staff development, leading some in-district staff development, and working on 2 different committees.

[Dyedinthewoolliberal]

44. My father was an elementary and junior high

teacher (tells you how long ago that was, there were no middle schools) and always said he was laid off in the summer. He could get a check every month but it would be 9 months salary stretched over a year. Or he could get another job in the summer. Which he always did. Anyone telling us school teachers are overpaid and under worked is way way off base. And he also had a Masters Degree and remarked. 'if I worked for Ford or GM with the education I have, I'd make twice as much money with half the headaches' Needless to say, I stayed far,far away from teaching.

[RobinA]

45. Every Teacher I Know

has the summer off. Back when I was in school ('70's) they used to suppliment their income by working in the summer. However, here in PA the salaries have increased significantly since those days and I know of no teacher who works during the summer. The job pays a decent income.

They only thing that REALLY annoys me is the celebration every June (I know a lot of teachers) about how it is finally summer and it's been a really stressful year, blah, blah, blah. Look, be glad you are in the position of getting more time off than the rest of us, and I accept that as being the way of the workd, but I could do without the "our job is sooooo hard we need months off to recover" meme. Other people in this world work hard at stressful jobs. If you have to gloat, keep it down.

[liberalhistorian]

46. You obviously have no fucking clue at all what it's like

to be in the classroom. If you did, you'd understand exactly WHY they're "celebrating" and why it's so desperately needed. I'd rather have almost ANY other job, no matter how stressful, than teaching, period.

[RobinA]

49. I Am Well Aware

of what it's like in the classroom. My point is that teachers don't have a monopoly on job stress, so I would appreciate it if the celebrating were a little more low-key out of respect for the rest of us who work high stress jobs but don't get the time off.

[liberalhistorian]

50. Exactly HOW are you so aware?

If you've never actually spent time in the classroom, then you, again, have no idea what you're talking about. I grew up with teachers, they have EVERY right to whatever kind of celebration they want. And they have never, ever claimed to have a monopoly on stress. It's just that other stressful jobs (ones that often aren't nearly as important to society as teaching) seem to be far more appreciated by the general public and there's little effort to understand theirs.

And most teachers I've known, now and while growing up, did, indeed, have to work during the summer. It was only toward the end of his career, before retiring early due to the onset of early dementia (he's now in a nursing home in only his sixties), that my stepdad could afford not to have to work during the summer.

[proud2BlibKansan]

54. You most certainly are not

I'll tell you what - as soon as the president begins criticizing YOUR profession, you are told on a nearly daily basis you are a failure, it's impossible to read a newspaper without seeing someone else call you a failure or accuse you of failing our children. your governor wants to reduce your meager pay and you face a layoff due to reduced state funding, then you'll understand what it's like to be a teacher today.

When you are in charge of 25-30 children all day long, with no help from another adult, and you are expected to keep them ALL on task, take care of their bathroom and dietary needs, keep them from hitting each other (that's harder than anyone can imagine), and keep them focused (without recess - that's now banned) as well as maintaining their attention when they go home to playing video games for hours, then you can claim you are well aware of what a classroom is like.

Spending a year in 3rd grade when you are 8 years old doesn't make you aware of what a classroom is really like.

[mcar]

47. My husband does wrt paid jobs

But he spends his summers either preparing for the next school year or taking HS students on service trips overseas. He works 14 hour days during the school year, including weekends so by the time June comes along, he's near collapse.

He used to teach summer school but FL eliminated summer school in most districts to save money so that option's not there. He spent some summers working on his master's degree, which we'll be paying off for a long time.

[eppur_se_muova]

51. This is true even at the college and university level.

Faculty are basically unpaid for the Summer at many schools, unless they opt to teach Summer Semester courses. And for many, that means teaching at a different school, if at all.

Some do the nine-months-salary-paid-over-twelve-months thing, but of course that doesn't affect annual salary.

[obxhead]

52. I know 4 actually.

They enjoy their summers off. They also earn their pay and deserve a raise quite frankly.

[Horse with no Name]

53. Nope.

My best friend teaches summer school and also works part time at a retail store.

[beac]

55. I've known several teachers who waited tables in the summer.

And often made better money at that than at their teaching job.

[etherealtruth]

56. Every one I know

So what.

[Lydia Leftcoast]

57. When I was a college instructor

I spent my summers doing one of three things:

1) Teaching summer school

2) Taking continuing education courses

3) Going to Japan (to keep up my language skills and to do research. I spent the majority of my time commuting daily to the National Diet Library --Japan's Library of Congress--and poring over books. I did my travel and sightseeing on weekends or in a two-week stint at the end.)

[noel711]

58. Nope

Teacher I know these days work all damn summer;
they teach summer school, or work in the 'real' world
because there is no way, no way...to live.

When I was a teacher, the only summers I took completely
off were when my daughter was a wee little thing.
But the family had to be stringent with budget to survive.

So much for a middle class lifestyle.

[jillan]

59. Yes, and they don't like it. The bills don't stop during the summer.

[mainstreetonce]

60. yes

I always took the summer off, but mine was the second family income. Everyone I knew who was supporting a family had to work in the summer.

[Nikia]

61. I graduated in 1996, I'd say about 75% did

While the teachers were far from wealthy, the whole area averaged below the state average in income. To live an average lifestyle, for the area, supplementing their income was not necessary.
Now I think that some continuing education is required, and many teachers use the summer for this.