Do you ever feel that your school system cares more about the money that the football team brings in than the academic achievements of the high level learners? I believe all schools need to provide students with extra curricular activities, however not at the expense of others. Our local newspaper has a whole section on the school sports of the county. Nothing is written about the scholars we have at our school. What message are we sending to others?
For example, one year when our football team were contenders for the state 5A championship, school was shut down for a half a day so community members could travel to the came. It is also public record the support salary our Head Coach makes...His supplement is $25,000 and of course a new truck! WOW! It's good to be the Head Coach! We had a reading teacher achieve the 5th highest reading scores in the state, and I don't see her receiving $25,000 or a new truck???? I must be missing something. I guess my priorities are mixed up. I thought we valued student achievement? I thought we valued teachers who work long hours and with students who may not have accomplished much without a teacher's guidance....
What is going on here?
comments?
Renni Wooden
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2 comments:
Renni,
There are more and more examples of this pressing issue in all states. Athletics, mostly football and basketball, bring in the dollars. Schools depend on these dollars. I am not trying to defend the $25000 and the new truck. Until legislature steps up and demands money for academic performace, we will be dealing with this issue until the cows come home.
In SC, schools are rewarded on students' achivement from state scores. However, it is very small compared to money brought in during 3 footballs games, especially if the team is doing well.
On the flipside, a future post could be written about the money brought in from female sports vs male sports. Being a former highschool girls volleyball and softball coach, I begged for new uniforms and equipment. Football and baseball...well, you can imagine the money thrown at those sports. Like you said in your post...what message are we sending?
William
You just brought up a pet peeve of mine and I wouldn’t be afraid to bet you that is a pet peeve of many, many other teachers as well. Coaches, especially male sport coaches, make lots of money and are given special privileges and considerations that most other teachers don’t have the option for. I can provide additional examples of this saga.
In my school district we have many inter curricular activities such as FBLA, FCCLA, VICA, HOSA etc. just to name a few. Those of us who are involved with these groups are required to have after school monthly meetings with guest speakers and refreshment etc. We are also required to organize and plan trips for district, regional, state and national competitions in each area. These trips require overnight stays, sometimes three days or more and the national trips may last a week. By the time the national come around it is usually summer and teachers are not in school. However, these teachers are required to take the students on these trips. Not only are they not paid at all for their time but they must pay for the trip for themselves out of their pocket until they can provide receipts to be reimbursed at a later date which can be two months away. I dare say coaches are not put in this predicament. Their money is there up front, they get paid well, and there are not many overnight trips let alone a week long trip.
Another example I have relates to the pictures in the newspaper. My students will occasionally take Microsoft certification tests and when they pass a group picture of the class in put in the paper. My pictures are maybe a 3 x 5 picture on a page somewhere in the middle of the paper and the football picture of some guy running is ½ page. You are exactly right! What kind of example are we sending our kids!
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