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You wanna fix this budget mess. Fire ATR’s teacher’s pool, Fire all Unsatisfactry rated teachers, make all teachers take a 10% pay cut, make all teachers pay for there health benefists, and make all teachers pay for there retirement. Than there won’t be no financial crisis in new york city. Open more charter schools and hire people who aint teachers to work in them- make them like a corporation bizness. Teachers are greedy and self fish.

I speaketh the truth. Teachers need to feel pressure to perform. There fat and lazy and getting rich. We need to keep an axe to there throat each year and make sure that there students do good on test scores, if there students dont do good on test scores they need to fire them teachers or make them work for 20% decrease in salary. Acountability is the society we live in now. Teachers is living in the 1890′s.

sorry for my spelling miss takes, but i learned how to spell from a teacher. teacher’s are to blame, finally we gots people like duncan, klein, bloomberg to make sure they (teacher’s) don’t just do what they want no more.

I too am disturbed by teachers who sell fish. And don’t panic, they’re there. If anyone cries to you they’re not, just tell them there, there, they’re there. But sometimes there’s just no “there” there, is there?

While the first comment might not have been grammatically correct, don’t discount the point. NYC has a decreasing population and thus a decreased tax pool. Our salaries and benefits are not sustainable any longer. You can disagree with that until you are blue in the face. Sometimes facts are inconvient, but it is the truth. Our parents were lucky. They enjoyed the fruits of a flawed system. While pensions are a wonderful idea, in practice, they are not only impractical but also unstainable. We should be taking a pay cut. If you were really in this for the kids, you would understand taking a hit for the greater good on this one.

I’ll have to partially disagree with you on this Bovine. I’ll accept a pay freeze because I understand how difficult the budget situation is. However, a salary cut is asking too much for a civil servant to give up during these difficult times. Just my two cents of course.

being a teacher is a noble professional. what you teachers need to realize is that children learning is more important then getting payed. you should be satisfied by students success and test scores not you’re fat paychecks and days off.

Anathema: after reading your comments I can only guess you
receive your information about teachers from one of NYC’s “fine”
hometown papers. First off do not blame your inability to write
with proper spelling and grammar on a teacher since we are forbidden
by the DOE from teaching spelling and grammar. Next, teachers can not
(unlike cops and fireman) retire after 20 years. Retiring before eligible
brings penalties. Lastly when I graduated college I became a teacher. Other
friends were hired for jobs getting three times the salary I received. Now ten
years later my friends still make more money than me however have had four jobs
to my one. I went in to teaching to make a difference and for stable salary, benefits
and pension. Those who do not have personal knowledge of teaching nor how to subtract
should comment on the job teachers do. I never claim anyone else career is easier than
anyone else’s. Don’t hate the pension and benefits of teachers just because you chose
a career without these benefits.

People, don’t feed the troll.

I love the you should do it for the kids argument anytime salery and teaching is brought up.. Ok I’ll take a 10% cut if you pay my mortgage.. Does that sound fair? Maybe I can call the bank and tell them of my noble profession and say I work for the kids of NYC and have since moved to a barter system where the kids bring me food and clothing in exchange for their education therefor instead of the usual 2,000 a month I pay you i will have to pay you in plantaines and cotton underwear.. IS that ok? I mean I work for the kids right?..

Well like I said.. Negotiate a way for me to not pay my bills and I’ll take a pay cut otherwise shove it where the sun doesn’t shine.. How about we first get rid of the ridiculous waste that is the consultant budget and then go back to large high schools with 1 principle instead of 4 smaller ones with 4 principles.. The small schools are a joke.. I teach in one.. you know how small my classes are? 33 on average..

Bovine you are as intelligent as your moniker suggests.. Since when does working and making 60,000 equate to greed? Especially when we live in one of the most expensive states in the union. SO let me get this straight.. I should work for free and live in a card board box because I chose to be a teacher? And for all that I can be an at will employee with the weight of a whole community on my back? Doctors go into medicine to help the sick.. surely a noble cause.. I don’t see anyone clamoring to cut their saleries by 10%….

Do you know what it is like teaching in class of 38+ students absolute mayhem.
Maybe a pay-freeze for this year I would go for.
Its after 25 years or teaching or when ever you reach 55 you can retire what ever comes later to avoid penalties.
Teaching is one of the lowest paying jobs that requires a masters degree. Teachers are not rich nor are we selfish.
Their are lazy teachers, but that is true for all professions.
Not every person should teach or even can teach. So please do not claim you can teach until you have actually taught.
Most of my days off I’m usually grading tests, writing lesson plans or thinking more innovate ways to teach different ideas. So we are getting paid for those hours to in my opinion.

Bovine…I agree with you…partially. Facts are facts and the city really doesn’t have the money for the 4% raises the UFT is demanding w/out major layoffs that would be devastating to our schools and students. I would gladly accept a smaller or no raise or even take a cut and/or contribute to my health benefits to avoid such devastating consequences, and I think most other NYC teachers would, too. People all over the country are making sacrifices and this is definitely not the time to be, or at least look, greedy. But, unfortunately, by accepting less than what the other civil servants’ unions did in this round of bargaining (4%) would be breaking “pattern bargaining,” and doing so would be completely devastating not only to our union’s salary bargaining power from now on, even in better economic times, but to other unions as well. Once we break the pattern, it’s broken for good, and all unions and the most basic of rights that have been fought for so hard over many, many years will suffer for years to come. And do not think for one minute that weakening labor and unions is not at least a small part of Bloomberg’s agenda. Also, while those in the private sector do not have the type of job and salary stability teachers may have, and often not the health/pension benefits, this is a known trade for more meager salaries. Notice that he same people who bemoan teachers’ job stability and benefits in our current economic climate would never consider it as a profession in better times…they would have to permanently modify their lifestyles more than is comfortable for them. Yes, our salaries have improved dramatically over the last 2 contracts (although never at greater than the pattern-bargaining rate…hence the huge time givebacks in the 2005 contract; it wasn’t a raise..it was more money for more time). Yet as a person with 10 years in the system and no dependents, I still cannot afford to live in most NYC neighborhoods, I drive a modest vehicle and am lucky if I can take one small vacation a year. I also pay over $1000 a year to park my car near work and about $2000 a year on supplies for my class. I work 60-70 hours a week under extremely challeging conditions, with very challeging students and a hostile and often abusive administration. I do my job well. Don’t I deserve my job stability and regular, inflationary-based salary gains given that I will never make much more than what I’m making now?

Still, I go back and forth over whether we should make some salary/benefit concessions. The money just isn’t there, and it looks as if Bloomberg sees serious budget cuts, with a large amount of teacher layoffs, as his only solution.

Please Anathema please start checking the spelling in your posts all computers have spell check.

I’m in my first year as NYC Public School Teacher, and lucky enough have got a job during a hiring freeze, and I’m most probably going get laid off. I have school loans, and dependents to deal with. Also, I ride the train ride from Brooklyn to the Bronx for almost 2 hours each way every day just to teach my students. I have 2 classes of 38+ students and 3 other classes of 33 students each. Also I have administrators that except miracles from me. Teaching may be for kids, but the teacher does not think about themselves a little a bit the kids will get hurt to.

Fred, you forgot to add, more bird brains posting with ridiculous errors in both spelling and logic in these boards. We cannot afford to have more Anathemas on board but surely things are more entertaining.

Teachers across the state are at risk of losing 15,000 of their jobs due to budget cuts. The state Senate plans to pass health and education cuts that could severely affect the future of the teaching profession. Education is being impacted by the decisions of those that chose to put their own agenda ahead of the most important topic at hand, our children’s education.
Most of the jobs being cut statewide are right here in New York City. Mayor Bloomberg has said that up to 8500 educational positions will be eliminated if budget cuts go through as currently proposed. Bloomberg and his colleagues are not offering any solutions. It has been reported that roughly 4% of teachers will be let go in NYC. That equals increased classroom sizes in an already crowded environment and less student electives like art, music, and physical education. If our students receive less attention in our public schools, this could spell disaster for the future of education in our city.
Elective programs motivate students by giving them a creative outlet. These courses help to keep kids focused while providing inspirational lessons rich in culture and history. It’s very distressing that public school administrators and state government officials would even consider dismantling any program related to the fine arts from the public school curriculum.
The state budgets call for non-teacher layoffs of roughly 6%. Add that to the 4% of teachers lost & that number becomes a vast 10% of all public school jobs. Something needs to be done to ensure that our students continue to have access to a well-rounded education enriched by elective programs & well-trained teachers who are truly passionate about their profession.
Governor Patterson has proposed that a so-called “Sin Tax” on sugary drinks & increasing the already high tax on cigarettes by an additional dollar. He expects these new taxes to raise enough revenue to help close the budget gap. I find this expectation somewhat unrealistic as from everyone in my circle, including my own household, has cut back on non-essentials due to the current state of the economy & how it has impacted us on a personal level. Considering this, how can we expect that sales will remain consistent? Taking into account NYC’s ubiquitous anti-sugary drinks & anti-smoking media campaigns, I do not believe that this is a reliable revenue stream for the public school system’s budget.