re: When did classroom Amazon and Target registries become a thing for teachers?

My wife does this each year. She gets supplies and general use stuff (facial tissue, band-aids, "the periodic table of Presidents" poster).
I don't make one, but as a teacher I am the "successful" person in my family. Her aunts and uncles, who are all loaded, feel sorry for the poor teachers and buy stuff on her list.

The real issue is twofold. First, school systems do not properly provide supplies to their teacher. Title I funds (based on poverty) are supposed to be used for supplies used in instruction, either by the student or the teacher. Somehow, this money never makes it to the classroom.

Second is that parents do not buy supplies for their kids like they used to. Ten years ago, I would receive enough tissue, band-aids, paper towels, pencils, etc. to supply my classes for the year. Now, I get nothing. Some teachers offer bonus points for supplies. I tell them over and over that this is illegal, but you do what you have to do.

Meanwhile, watch a school board meeting. Look at the hundreds of thousands of dollars that EBRPSS commits to bullshite programs every damn meeting. Look at convection. EBRPSS spends $20k to rent FG Clark, then spends $10 bucks a pop for every employee in the district to get a t-shirt, which will be worn once. Admins use funds during the summer to go to conferences in Miami or Vegas, bringing family members, while expecting teachers to attend PDs without pay.

Are you slow?

Since all the money goes to pay all these administrators ridiculous salaries!

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They already get paid a decent salary for only working 9 months out of the year. That pay comes out of our tax dollars.

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I actually thought the same exact way for decades until running across a comment that opened my eyes. Your average public employee goes to work, does their 8 hours, and goes home to do whatever they want with the 16 hours in between. Many have generous PTO allowances. Compare that to a teacher who is at work at the same time as that employee, works 8 hours with a period for lunch, and then goes home to grade coursework and prepare lessons for the next day. That extra time adds up over 9 months so now you're looking at 11 months worth of worktime over 180 days (540 accumulated hours). Many teachers supplement their pay by coaching/advising *. Others pickup summer jobs.

Teachers don't get to take vacations during the school year. When I was in school we'd only have a sub a day here or there unless the teacher was at a conference (my 6th grade teacher spent weeks away as he was part of the state's prep for computers in the classroom).

* My wife receives a $2,000 stipend for coaching at our local HS. 2 hours everyday, gone half the weeknights during the season, season goes January-May. She was a D1 All American in the events she coaches. It's literally "Play money" for us but very little for the work put into it.

Before you start on college coaches making bank, she spent 6 years at a D1 program... started at $18,000 a year and finished around $30k. She had to live in an apartment with 3 of her athletes during her first season coaching. That's the "big money" these Olympic sport assistants are getting paid.

So yes, "they only work 9 months" is an easy opinion to form but once you factor everything else in, it's certainly not an easy life.

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do understand the pay discrepancy for all the work teachers do but do they really need to take a "vacation " during the school year? Two weeks for Christmas, week each for Thanksgiving and Easter and two months for the summer seems like plenty of time to take whatever vacation(s) you need.

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Plus spring break and then fall break . They get a week off every other month .


Saw a wish list post today with the teacher and an AI slop photo of the teacher in her decked out crowdsourced classroom.

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So yes, "they only work 9 months" is an easy opinion to form but once you factor everything else in, it's certainly not an easy life.

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I’m in the minority, but my band activities took me to 2100 hours of work on the year. I basically averaged a 9-5 work week with no days off all year, it’s just crammed into 10.5 months. I worked over 50% of the Friday nights and Saturdays during the school year.

Needless to say, I’m starting to explore other options. Working 7 Saturdays during CFB season ain’t for me anymore.

In the 90s I remember my mom getting a list from my teachers for items needed to help the class

Obviously it was a paper list but it’s the same exact thing

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Extremely low iq take.

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Ok, mouth breather. Care to elaborate any more than this?

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do understand the pay discrepancy for all the work teachers do but do they really need to take a "vacation " during the school year? Two weeks for Christmas, week each for Thanksgiving and Easter and two months for the summer seems like plenty of time to take whatever vacation(s) you need.

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Exactly. Teachers are just a bunch of whiny women who buy into the group think narrative that their jobs suck much and that they have a shitty situation. In actuality, they only have to work 9 months out of the year and have numerous opportunities to take vacations: 2 months off during summer, off every weekend, fall break for a 4-day weekend, 1 week for Thanksgiving, 2 weeks for Christmas, 1 week for Mardi Gras (in Louisiana), one week for Easter, etc.

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Do you have to have shootouts and fist fights with criminals like police officers do? Do you have to put your life in danger and endure horrible working conditions like coal miners? Do you have to sweat your arse off every day for 12-16 hours in an engine room like a diesel mechanic?

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Have you even been an ECE self-contained teacher in an urban area if you haven’t been hit with chair and told you were going to get shot?