Carey Dillinger, April, 1995
The Daily Commercial
The contract between the teachers and the Lake County School Board for the 1994-95 school year has finally been signed, sealed, and delivered. If you have given this newspaper even a cursory reading in the last seven months you are aware of all of the gory details. They will not be repeated here.
However, it would be a competent use of column space to try and answer a couple of questions posed to teachers, since the ratification of the contract, by members of the community at large.
Q: Why would any one in their right mind go to college for up to six years and take on a job that pays about the same as one you could get with two years of trade school?
A: The simple answer is, no one in their right mind would!
Those of us that have made teaching our career are obviously in our "left minds!" Many of us may think that we are not underpaid. It may seem that teachers are not underpaid for the hours they are paid to work. A teacher in the Lake County School system with over seventeen years of experience and a Master's degree earns $25.31 per hour. How could anyone making that wage in Lake County think they were underpaid? The good teachers are underpaid because of the hours they work for no pay. The good teachers are working an average of two to three hours (unpaid) overtime each day and another three or four hours on the weekend. This extra unpaid overtime reduces their hourly wage to about $17.00 per hour. While the school board does provide some in-service training for which the teachers are compensated at $10.00 per hour, many teachers are forced to pay for and attend up to six hours of college every five years to maintain their certification. Now if we factor in these unpaid hours, uncompensated after school duty, as well as the fact that most teachers are only on a 190 day contract and for all intents and purposes are unemployed the rest of the year, their annual hourly wage is about 14 bucks. Remember, these figures are for the good veteran teacher, the good beginning teacher's adjusted wage would be considerably lower. The sorry teachers out there are ripping off our tax money no matter how you figure it.
More opportunities, such as summer school, need to be made available for those teachers that want and need additional employment. As already mentioned there are some compensated summer institutes for teachers, but enrollment is always limited and interested teachers are turned away.
If teachers are not in it for the money, then why do they teach? To explain why we teach we must invoke the "I" word. The intangibles. The American Heritage Dictionary Standard Edition, has the following definition: (1.) Incapable of being perceived by the senses. (2.) Incapable of being realized or defined.
If the intangibles are incapable of being perceived, realized or defined how can they be demonstrated? Thanks to the 1995 graduating class of Leesburg High School I was able to witness an intangible become tangible right before my eyes. It was my honor and pleasure to accompany the senior class to the Silver Lake Country Club for their annual luncheon. The purpose of the luncheon is two-fold: first, so the class can experience some organized fellowship and second, so they can dedicate their senior yearbook to a person they perceive as having been an outstanding influence on their lives during their four-year stay at the high school. In my twenty years at LHS they have made a excellent choice 95% of the time.
The class of '95 made an outstanding choice of an exemplary teacher, husband, father, friend and God-fearing man. A man who has dedicated the past 25 years of his life to teaching math and physics to the students of the Leesburg area. A man whose motto, "I'm only here to help you," is at times a gentle witticism, but always a reminder that he is available to help, encourage, and edify his students. The 1995 LaTorre is dedicated to Mike Wagner. The intangible became tangible in that few moments this past Friday afternoon as those of us present stood and applauded and "hollered" as Mike Wagner stepped to the podium.
In the fall of this school year, those of us at Leesburg High were fearful that Mike would not be long for this world. He was suffering from a disease that has given very few people a second chance. Thanks to a hard working and competent medical staff, along with the support and prayers of his family, loved ones, co-workers, and friends, Mike was given a second lease on life and able to return to his full teaching duties during the second quarter of the school year. In much the same way, the class of '95, renewed the lease on Mike's teaching life.
As long as some of those intangibles become tangible every now and then there will always be good teachers willing to work for $14.00 an hour. It is up to us as students, parents, fellow teachers, administrators, taxpayers, and retirees to continue to support our good teachers.
There is just enough space this month for one more question.
Q: If the teachers voted down the first contract offer and the school board came back with a better offer, then why would anyone in their right mind not keep voting down the contract until there was no better offer?
A: Sometimes the simplest answer is the best, no one in their right mind would!
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