First Year Recap: Fun, Surplus, and Salary Freezes

Greetings!

Since I have been out of the blogging world for so long a LOT has happened. I'm going to use today's Five for Friday to tell ya about 5 things that have happened during my first year of teaching.

I had an Ah-Mazing first year as a Teacher! I was hired at the school where I completed my student teaching so I already knew some of my kiddos going in. I had the greatest group of kids and an amazing team to work with. Here are just a few photos from my amazing year.

The 7th grade Bat Team at a Pep Rally. My school uses teaming as a way to unify the school. It also makes school a lot more fun. ;)

 

Stuffed animal day!

My work besties and I supporting our Orchestra at Festival.

A group of my students "masking" their identities before we started Shakespeare's Twelfth Night!

This one is blurry, but it was our teacher dance at the talent show. Even our principal is in there. ;)

 

 Pre-Field day pie toss.

Post filed day pie toss!

 

The actually teaching aspect of my first year was amazing. Working for my school district, on the other hand, was incredibly stressful. Being 1 of about 20,000 teachers is not a good time.

As you can see from number one, I had the best first year possible. Unfortunately, due to "projected" enrollment, I was surplussed from my school for the upcoming school year. I am not sure what it is called in other districts, but basically I was involuntarily transferred from my school. I found out in March, the day before Spring Break. Upset doesn't even begin to cover how I felt after I found out.

My principal did everything she could to save me, which really made me feel better. It let's me know that I am a good teacher at least! For months my fate was uncertain. At certain points my position was actually saved. But then at the last minute the district increased classroom sizes by 0.5 students. I lost my position by half of a student. It is just very upsetting that I worked in one of the highest need areas in the city, genuinely loved my job, and now I am not allowed to stay...

I am half way done with my Master's Degree, as of the end of June! It has been a lot of work, but I am so glad that I am getting it out of the way now! I was doing very well in my classes because, every time I lacked motivation, I would just remind myself of the pay raise promised by my district.

See my districts salary schedule here....I have included this because I am fine with being transparent. See what I make, I am fine with it ;)

Now see number 4....

 

 My district, Clark County School District (CCSD) pays teachers with a step and column system. The more education you pursue, the higher your pay. Due to budget cuts, CCSD decided that they would not award teachers raises of any kind this year.

Their sole focus is recruiting teachers since we are about 1000 teachers short. They have decided to give new teachers in high needs areas a $5,000 signing bonus for the first two years. That means new teachers with a bachelors degree will be making $5,000 more than I do, even though I will have a Master's degree in February.

Here is the Billboard CCSD bought in NYC. I wonder how much that cost?

 



Another one of their plans is to pay retired teachers, on top of their pension, to come back to the district. Most retired teachers are maxed out on the salary schedule, so that is already about double what I make. On top of that, they will continue to get their pension....Is this a joke?! Did you bring back "Punked" Ashton?'

I was apart of my very first protest! I never thought I would ever have the desire to speak in public or protest. I have always thought protesters were weird to be honest. But in my current situation I figured why not?

A co-worker and I at the rally.

A poster I made for the protest!

 

So there you have it. My first year consisted of great kids, a Master's program, salary freezes, and a protest.

 

Did anyone else have a first year similar to mine? Tell me I'm not alone!? Haha