In response to the transcript of President Obama’s interview with NBC, a teacher writes:
Class sizes here in Las Vegas are not going down. When they reshuffled on count day we lost teachers at our sites There are now 36 kids in all our 4th and 5th grade classes. Schools are only staffed at 93%. I think it is the districts way of punishing the Union for winning arbitration where it was clearly proved the money for salary was there. This district is so obscenely top heavy with administrators and coordinators. Every elementary has at least one instructional strategist or more. These strategists basically help coordinate testing and have almost no contact with students. I feel that money would be much better spent on another teacher to help lower class sizes. The position is a joke. Morale is so bad here.
Diane Ravitch's blog 
I’m not surprised. I’m sure the kids are happy and the parents must be over-joyed with the attention their child is getting.
I hope everyone behaves. Breaking up a fight with 25-30 kids in a room is tough. I cringe at the thought of 36-40 in a room. Now, most rooms are or were built for 25-30 children, 36 students in a room would qualify as a safety/crowding/health threat.
You know, there two people who can really change this: the parent(s) and the student(s). I hope they do so.
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That might be an interesting way to combat this – get the building inspector involved. Even restaurants are required to post the maximum safe number of diners allowed – why should classrooms not be required to post maximum safe numbers of students allowed? Of course, it might not work out so well, because some inspector-type decided that 66 kids on a school bus with 22 double seats is acceptable….
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I once complained that my very small classroom was too crowded. When I returned the next day, the full-sized student desks had all been replaced with smaller ones. Voila – extra room!
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Same case is with Washoe County School District in northern Nevada. Layer upon layer of administrators and central office staff, including jobs that are filled by failed principals. My last two, who helped to derail and perhaps destroy my career for good and for no reason other than CYA and retaliation, have make-work jobs courtesy of the taxpayers. They should have been fired.
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Ha – we got one of those former administrators from Washoe County. He put our district into the red and it took years to get back out.
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why do we always talk about morale in education and not other jobs? because our pay is so pathetically crappy we do it for the kids… but what about our own kids? how long must my own children suffer for their peers education while they get new ipads my kids wear only yard sale items, we don’t vacation, nothing. nothing i can provide to MY KIDS…15 years and two degrees and they pay me less than a damn truck driver. fed up.
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Don’t take it out on the truck driver. We all have to be in this struggle together. He might actually be a guy who respects teachers. He might be a parent whose kids are in public schools. He might be the guy who calls in your breakdown on the New York Thruway at 8AM, thirteen hours from home, with four little kids in the car and no cell phone. Thank you truckers!
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Well said. Also, truckers tend to be supportive of unions.
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I forgot to put in that he may be a union member, too.
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AMEN DANIEL! AMEN! I thought you had hacked into my computer, and changed my “name” to daniel.
FIRE DUNCAN! Hire Ravitch!
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Does anyone think that Pres. Obama doesn’t realize any of this is going on throughout the nation?
Heartless and elitist.
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President Obama has failed to realize that Las Vegas had and still has one of the highest class sizes in the nation. If I could talk to him I would like to tell him about it. I would also like to tell him my plan to reform education and it has nothing to do with racing for money with test scores. What would reforms look like if they were created by teachers? I could write a ten page list and it still wouldn’t be enough. It would be better than anything even the charter schools and private schools could do.
On a different note, before I worked in education I spent time in other fields. I can think of no other job I have had where I have been so micro managed. I am more micro managed now as an educator who holds a Master’s Degree and has more than 10 years experience than I ever was as a 16 year old cashier at Best Buy. Why do they believe we are so incompetent? In what other profession do you have to write 12 page plans describing minute by minute what you will do that day? Am I not professional enough to outline my agenda for the day and go from there? Who are lesson plans really for? Has anyone ever asked that? How can my time as an educator be better utilized?
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Hi, I was wondering if it’s possible for you to add a share on Facebook (or other options) link at the end of your posts. That way your writing would spread faster beyond those of us who subscribe (and forward) your message. Thanks so much for sharing the news with us!
Sent from my iPhone
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Who are these teachers that Pres. Obama says he is talking to? Perhaps when he came to address the UN, he should have taken some time out to talk to the teachers in NYC???? Oh.. I forgot, he doesn’t care. He’s got and agenda to push!
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