Here’s a not-so-enticing proposal: work twice as hard for 75
percent of your usual pay. Summer school teachers will be paid $150
per day for their work during the four-week summer school session.
Last year they were paid $200 a day. That’s a $1,000 cut for the
month of work.
Here’s a not-so-enticing proposal: work twice as hard for 75 percent of your usual pay.
Summer school teachers will be paid $150 per day for their work during the four-week summer school session. Last year they were paid $200 a day. That’s a $1,000 cut for the month of work.
Deputy Superintendent Bonnie Tognazzini said the district was “hedging its bets” with the summer school program. They expect about 20 percent less than the $400,000 estimated at the beginning of the year for the program.
Administrators can pay teachers whatever they want for the state-funded program, since they’re not bound by the Federation of Teachers union contract that members work under during the school year.
Since there’s no contract to adhere to, there’s no teacher-to-student ratio to meet either, so teachers can sometimes find themselves in classrooms with double the students – more than 60 in some cases – than they have during a regular school year.
Tognazzini said that’s because summer school is a guessing game. Because they get paid about $3 per hour per child, and they don’t have control over students’ attendance, the district is constantly reassessing to make sure they’re not paying teachers more than the state will pay them for the program. So, a week into the program, they might “collapse” one class into another to cut costs.
“Summer school sometimes costs us money out of our general fund, and sometimes we get a little bit more (than we spent). We don’t know what it is until summer school is done,” she said.
The thought of getting paid a quarter less for the same work made some teachers cringe, while others will grin and bear it.
When asked whether they would work summer school with reduced pay, most said they didn’t plan to teach it anyway.
Nordstrom Elementary School first grade teacher Sarah Stewart said she’d still be applying because she could use the extra cash.
“It would have been nice to (get paid the $200),” she said. “It was just disappointing to see they’d cut that much.”
Teachers have until Friday to apply, according to a district newsletter.
The district expects to spend $255,000 of state funds for summer school this year, including two principals and 42 teachers, according to the school budget.
