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Teachers deserve every penny

Editor, The News:

Re: Hope teachers don’t miss their Pro-D day, (The News, Aug. 24.)

After reading this letter I really felt the need to respond.  I am not a teacher but I am a parent of four who have gone and are going through the education system.

First, does the writer understand or even know that teachers have to pay for many of their teaching tools out of their own pockets?

In elementary schools, for example, the teachers pay for posters and decorations for the rooms. The stickers they give the younger children as rewards, comes out of their own pockets.  I have had teachers do special crafts for the kids and again – supplies have come out of their own pockets.

Teachers spend countless hours marking work, preparing lessons, staying after hours for help sessions with students and taking time from their own lives to coach kids on sports teams.  Their jobs are not 9 a.m. to 3 p.m.

As for the “two months paid vacation” get your facts straight.  Teachers salary is based on 10 months of teaching.

My understanding is that they can choose to have it spread out over the 12 months or take it all during the 10 months of teaching.

Teachers actually go back in the last two weeks of August to set up their classrooms and attend meetings.  Many use the months off to take university courses to upgrade their skills.

They are not the only  profession to have multiple vacation weeks. My husband has worked for his company long enough that he has eight weeks paid vacation.

Lastly, I want to address the comment about “missing their Pro-D day.”

Does the writer mean to imply this is a “day off” for the teachers?

Well it is not. It is exactly what it says. It is a professional development day.  The teachers are given a choice of workshops to sign up for and they are required to attend.

Many professions have professional development requirements.  Lawyers must continually upgrade and take workshops. Accountants have a required number of upgrade courses/workshops they must take in a year.

These days are used to help the teachers better educate our children – the future leaders of our world.

I appreciate all the work that teachers do and all the problems they have to put up with.  With the lack of respect for authority by many of today’s youth it is not an easy profession.

Insinuating they are over paid or receive too many perks is beyond ridiculous.

Walk a mile in their shoes. They deserve every penny they get.

V. Stickelmann

Maple Ridge