The longest short week ever

[velvetpage]

This is, for the kids, a short week. For me, it's a week where one day is a P.A. Day, and therefore an emotional, if not actual, day off. Even with the in-service I'm giving on research models, Friday will be much easier than a normal teaching day. (In terms of PR, that's not normally something I mention to non-teachers. It doesn't look good on the profession to call a non-teaching day a day off. The truth is that a normally-stressful day at the office for most people is still fairly straightforward compared with the emotional overload of preparing, teaching, and dealing with all the issues of all the kids of a day of teaching. But I digress.)

Today I had an in-service. By that, I mean I had to go to the Memorial building a half-hour's drive across town, through some nasty traffic, by 4:00 in the afternoon, in order to spend an hour and a half learning to do something essential to my job. I'll have to go to part two tomorrow.

Ten years ago, stuff like this was usually done on a P.A. day, of which there were nine or ten each year - basically once a month. I remember those days from the student perspective - good times, for sure. Since 1995, though, the number of P.A. Days has been cut to a total of four, one of which is always the last weekday in June. The others are spaced throughout the year. They are used for things like in-services, teacher prep time for specific tasks like report cards, parent-teacher interviews, and in the case of the one in June, shutting down the school for the summer.

Most of the in-services which used to happen on these days have been condensed from three hours to one or two, and placed after school or during school hours. That means a teacher either gives up their after-school activities (such as planning and marking) or spends hours planning for a supply teacher for half a day, in order to attend. In both cases, teachers end up using "free" time on work activities. I worked an eleven-hour day today, and will do so again tomorrow. Wednesday I will be catching up on the marking and planning I did not have time for before. I doubt I will be caught up by Friday.

I'm of the school of teachers who believes things like this should be done during the summer, and expenses incurred (such as extra babysitting) should be tax-deductible or perhaps even reimbursed by the Board of Ed. I do not have time to spend eleven hours a day on my job! I have a toddler, and a life outside of work. This is not a reasonable demand. Eight, even nine hours a day, is not unreasonable. But eleven???

Please, if this would be considered reasonable in your office job, let me know. I want to know if I'm expecting too much from my employer here.

Comments

[sassy-fae.livejournal.com]

I think your expectations are reasonable.
I used to have to work 11 hour days once or twice a week. We finally managed to convince our manager that it was ridiculous, and scheduling could be done better to avoid that sort of thing. I'd work 9am to 7:30pm (9 hours of which would be one-on-one therapy with with three different children with autism) and I'd have 3 hours of commuting time before and after the shift. So many people at my office have quit in the last year, but I think the number would have been a lot higher if they hadn't changed that.
What does the teacher's union think of these ridiculously long days?

[velvetpage.livejournal.com]

Their keyword is "voluntary". In-services, staying after school, the presentation I'm doing on Friday - it's all voluntary. Supervision is not, and the union agrees with me that the amount I'm doing is excessive, but no one seems to be able to suggest an improvement that won't infringe on anyone else's contract (for example, the EA's, who already have a pretty awful job.) The fact is, I would be within my rights to refuse to do any of it, but I'd be sealing myself as a troublemaker and non-team player if I did. It's a lose-lose situation.

[sassy-fae.livejournal.com]

True. :( It's unfortunate that you're boxed into this sort of situation even with a union behind you.

[velvetpage.livejournal.com]

For the duty, we're going to try to hash something out at the staff meeting on Friday - basically, three adults outside, of which one must be a teacher and the other an EA. That should cut down on duty time for all concerned; currently all the EA's are out every break, and two teachers as well, making five people for two hundred kids. The usual ratio for yard supervision is one teacher for every hundred kids or so. We have more than double that. Since I'm not the only teacher to feel this is excessive, we should be able to do something about it.

The in-services are over for the moment, and I left school at 3:10 today. The baby is out with Aunty Krista, so life is quiet for about two hours now. I'm going to enjoy it. :)

[anidada.livejournal.com]

If you were a programmer, 11 hours would be the minimum, in some companies. I've known people in my office to work every hour they aren't sleeping or commuting. And they don't get paid overtime, nor are they guaranteed bonuses -- that's just how the industry works. Many folks are at their maximum accrued vacation time, but can't take a day off because of what they're working on, and won't accrue any more until they use some of it. Scary. It's definitely a big reason why some folks quit -- several people have specifically said so (esp. those who are parents), and I can't say I'm surprised.

[velvetpage.livejournal.com]

Okay, good reason not to be a programmer. :) I don't even have the option of working instead of vacation time, but that's probably a good thing.

What's the salary like for a programmer, out of curiosity?

[anidada.livejournal.com]

Depends what they do, what they're hired to do, their education level and experience, and who hires them (non-profits have less money to throw around, of course). Folks in the industry can earn anywhere from $30,000 a year to six figures. Canadian, that is.

I'm actually glad I didn't go that route, in the end, despite the money -- I couldn't hack the hours, the pressure, the atmosphere, keeping up with the tech... Not to mention the toll on every aspect of one's health.

[velvetpage.livejournal.com]

The next question is predictable. :) Do the hours worked go up as the salary improves? I mean, if someone's being paid 90 grand to work 11-hour days, and they knew that when they went in, that's different from someone making 40 grand, suddenly realizing that 11-hour days are the norm. Also, if the salary will go up faster if they put in those hours, that makes some sense. (Not enough, in my opinion. I would never do that job.)