Do teachers get kickbacks on school fundraisers?

@hawkeye10,

Ain't that the cotton pickin' truth?

@roger,

roger wrote:

Ain't that the cotton pickin' truth?

I had no idea till I did 4 hours a week as a volunteer letting 4th graders read to me. I was allowed in the teachers lounge, and I listened. Then I decided that no, I did not want to be a teacher, as I hate workplace politics and am only so-so at doing it.

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@hawkeye10,

hawkeye10 wrote:

Also schools are very political, teachers who dont produce enough sales get accused of not being team players, and then workplace politics get to be a bitch.

I worked as a case manager for an LTD carrier for a while. More teachers on massive stress leaves than I could initially fathom.

They'd all gone in there thinking they were going to do good things for the world, teach those precious little souls important things ... and then they spent all their time dealing with bureaucracy and politics (both politics within the school/board and dealing with the fallout from decisions made by clueless politicians). Gotta be tough and love politics to survive in teaching.

You also have to have a family that doesn't mind you spending most of the school year ignoring them. Whacks of them had been doing 4 - 6 hours of work a day, outside of time at the school. When I questioned principals and union reps about it, they told me that was needed to keep up with students' work - since time at school (other than teaching) was used to keep up with the bureaucratic requirements.

Definitely put me off thinking I'd like to teach some day.

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@ehBeth,

Quote:

They'd all gone in there thinking they were going to do good things for the world, teach those precious little souls important things ... and then they spent all their time dealing with bureaucracy and politics (both politics within the school/board and dealing with the fallout from decisions made by clueless politicians). Gotta be tough and love politics to survive in teaching.

And lets not forget angry unreasonable parents. I have run into more than a few helicopter parents who I am fairly certain are well practiced in threatening their kids teachers.

1 Reply

@hawkeye10,

I consider parents part of in-school politics - as principals and boards fold under any pressure from parents.

It's all (IMNSHO) to the detriment of the students.

I'd never survive as a teacher because I'd want to tell the parents and principals etc to **** off and let me teach.

1 Reply

@ehBeth,

Slightly off topic I read somewhere recently that about the worst part of being a teacher now is the constant new reform movements, which suck up tons of time and never stick around long enough to see if they work. Teachers are hugely demoralized, in part because they get pulled out of teaching to constantly learn new systems, and in part because they have lost faith in those who direct the schools. Common core is the latest round, and it will not be around long. Teachers have decided that schools are being constantly changed because certain people want constant change, and dont care that it negatively impacts the teacher/student process. This is related to constant bureaucratic bullshit, but is worse so far as morale goes.

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@Linkat,

Linkat wrote:

But my daughter was telling me the teacher has been yelling at the class as they have not been selling enough.

At least the teacher isn't getting on their case for not selling enough copies of Robert Cormier's The Chocolate War to people.

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@hawkeye10,

hawkeye10 wrote:

Quote:
The other thing is that with some fundraisers, the teachers don't get cash kickbacks but they do get credit toward supplies for their classrooms (which quite a few pay for themselves).
This is my understanding. Also schools are very political, teachers who dont produce enough sales get accused of not being team players, and then workplace politics get to be a bitch.

You are probably right - there are politics every where - I think it best if I just let the kid know don't worry about - sell if you want but that is not why you are at school. Life lesson sort of thing.

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@ehBeth,

Quote:

You also have to have a family that doesn't mind you spending most of the school year ignoring them. Whacks of them had been doing 4 - 6 hours of work a day, outside of time at the school.

To be honest this is not much different than other types of professional careers. I work hours later than the 9-5 without any extra pay - expected of you when you are a professional salaried employee. This teacher friend of mine and me are typically seen with work while we are at our daughters basketball games. We squeeze in work on the weekends in between their games.

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Do teachers get kickbacks on school fundraisers?

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