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Post by Kymberlee on Jun 20, 2016 11:19:13 GMT
As a classroom teacher, would you take the last week of school off for a vacation? Not for an emergency but a planned vacation? I just can't wrap my brain around it but maybe my dislike of this person is clouding my judgement. A friend of hers won an all expense paid cruise and invited her along so it isn't something that could have been postponed so this was the only time the free vaca was offered.
I am a specialist that works very closely with a classroom teacher that decided to go on a cruise this week which leaves the students with a sub all week which means that complete chaos is going to ensue in the classroom. I refuse to deal with it and will probably pull my kiddo out of the room to practice some skills and we might go on a last minute field trip (I have permissions for this). The icing on the cake was the email that I received early this morning asking if me and the classroom IA would mind SIGNING HER REPORT CARDS and stuffing the envelopes with whatever crap needs to go into the report card envelopes. Are you kidding me? I have my own work to do and the assumption that I have time to stuff envelopes for her is infuriating. I am not her IA and I am not her classroom helper and she can kiss my ass. Whew! Got that off my chest. :-)
I will probably ignore the email and let the chips fall where they may. Thoughts?
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Post by christine58 on Jun 20, 2016 11:22:54 GMT
Where I teach it would be without pay and no I would not
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Post by monklady123 on Jun 20, 2016 11:28:25 GMT
Maybe she's not coming back next year and just doesn't care anymore? I subbed for a full week back in February for at teacher who went on a cruise to the Bahamas for her birthday. I can tell you that any teacher who I talked to that week commented on how a new teacher (new to the county, she'd taught in a different county before this) could take off an entire week, and why a teacher would even do that, etc. Lots of grumbling. But I speculated that maybe she wasn't coming back and sure enough last month she didn't return the "intent to return" form.  My sympathies to that sub! omg. I'm home with my dd who just had knee surgery and I am glad to have that excuse NOT to sub this week (the last week of school here) or for the past week or so. The kids are just nuts! And no, if I were a classroom teacher I would not take off the last week. And I'd feel guilty to ask any other teacher to do my work for me. |
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Post by Kymberlee on Jun 20, 2016 11:40:12 GMT
Oh, she is coming back. She has taken so many days off this year it is ridiculous, but admin thinks she walks on water. It is incredibly frustrating. I'm just happy I don't have to deal with her next year.
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MerryMom
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Post by MerryMom on Jun 20, 2016 11:42:55 GMT
I wouldn't purposely schedule a vacation then, but if I had an opportunity for a free vacation, then heck yes I certainly would. (Since you asked, I do think your dislike of the person is clouding your opinion a little bit).
A sub in a classroom creates "chaos" or "disruption" no matter when it happens. However, she shouldn't ask you or anyone else to do "extra" for her. That's her responsibility. My response to her email asking you to sign report cards and put papers in it? "No, I don't have time to do that for you as I am busy with my own end of year things to accomplish."
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Post by secondlife on Jun 20, 2016 11:48:47 GMT
Is the last week of school a bad time to take a vacation? Yes.
Should she have finished her stuff before she left and not expected others to pick up her slack? Yes.
But teachers take vacations too - they earn and are entitled to use their PTO - and admin obviously approved it. So it is what it is.
I would respond to the email and say sorry but no, I'm inundated myself - maybe a parent volunteer would help you. No need to be passive-aggressive about it.
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scrapaddie
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Post by scrapaddie on Jun 20, 2016 11:50:02 GMT
I had to miss the last week when my dd was in the hospital. I taught high school, so all I was saying was exams and book check in. But even then, I was very uncomfortable with it. I was at the school every day to leave exams and to pick up exams that needed to be graded . I graded while I sat with my daughter . It certainly was not an ideal situation for my students or for me. I would never plan to be off for vacation.... And I also think our contract is not what I was to take time during that week. It is an incredibly selfish move.
I don't know if this applies, But I did notice in my last year's of teaching, that younger teachers often took a lot of time off and expected others to pick up the slack for them. I, on the other hand, Did not miss school unless it was absolutely necessary. It was just too hard to have enough that a sub could do. Since I taught science, and subs did not have to be science teachers, a day missed by me usually meant seat work or a movie for the kids
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JustTricia
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Post by JustTricia on Jun 20, 2016 11:51:33 GMT
What grade is this? From mentioning you may pull your kid for last minute field trip, I'm guessing elementary? So, no finals, she didn't ask anyone to grade anything besides signing report cards and stuffing them. We always hear how little pay teachers receive, so the chance to go on a free trip, hell yeah I'd go!
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scrapaddie
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Post by scrapaddie on Jun 20, 2016 12:00:34 GMT
What grade is this? From mentioning you may pull your kid for last minute field trip, I'm guessing elementary? So, no finals, she didn't ask anyone to grade anything besides signing report cards and stuffing them. We always hear how little pay teachers receive, so the chance to go on a free trip, hell yeah I'd go! But, typically the same attitude that allows a person to work for less pay is an attitude of caring for the students and their progress. And few people realize just how much work has to be done that last week. the last weeks of school are overwhelming for everybody. Most contracts, in Ohio at least, only allow three personal days and they cannot be taken just before vacation. It definitely would not be my choice to miss that week but as a previous poster said, apparently she had administrative approval. |
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CeeScraps
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Post by CeeScraps on Jun 20, 2016 12:03:20 GMT
I teach....and yes, I'd take my friend up on the opportunity to take a free vacation no matter what time of the year it was.
Now, before I went I'd have all my end of the responsibilities completed, especially if it were report cards.
The end of the year is hectic and crazy no matter who is in that classroom. It's like that no matter how good the children are throughout the rest of the year. So, yes the sub will have a tough time. Maybe there is a teacher the sub could pair up with and do some activities with another class.
If I was "left" at school and asked to sign the cards I would talk to the admin as I wouldn't be the ones giving the grades. It may not be your place to do it because of that. How long is she gone? Do the parents know she took this opportunity? The admin could send a letter home with the kids of that class. The report cards could be mailed home.
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SabrinaP
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Post by SabrinaP on Jun 20, 2016 12:03:41 GMT
Would I plan a vacation for the last week of school? No way
Would I take the last week off for a once in a lifetime trip? Absolutely! I would ask, but the last day of school would be unpaid and my administration could deny it. I would do my very best to get a good sub in there for the entire week. I know my team would take care of me and my end of the year stuff because that's how we do things.
Here it wouldn't be an option to finish everything before leaving. Grades are done and submitted the second to last week of school, but we don't receive report cards until the last few days. We also have Cummulative folders to fill out and cannot go that until the last day of school so they are accurate with attendance. My team would totally take care of me, just like I would do for them.
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Post by Merge on Jun 20, 2016 12:06:17 GMT
It would be against policy in my district. There is no personal time approved in the last two weeks of school. My most recent principal wouldn't approve it in the last month. You would have to call in sick each day, and on the third day you'd need a doctor's note to return.
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Post by Spongemom Scrappants on Jun 20, 2016 12:10:19 GMT
As a parent, I would prefer the actual teacher be there, but I wouldn't be unduly upset by it. My sons rarely had anything significant going on in the classroom that last week -- the teachers may be busy then, but the students are not.
As a professional, you should respond to her email and not ignore it. A simple statement that you cannot do as asked due to your own responsibilities is sufficient.
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AnotherPea
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Post by AnotherPea on Jun 20, 2016 13:21:39 GMT
I wouldn't plan to take off that week. But if I was offered a free vacation I would ask for it off.
The last week of school for me is just a week of test administration. Someone would have to do more work because I wasn't there. Just like I had to give extra tests because I have two coworkers out sick. Someone would have to go through the cumulative folders and mail out my report cards for me. I could do all the work in my room the week after my vacation.
I have to admit that there are teachers at my school that routinely take off weeks for vacations during the school year. And it does irritate me. Most of the time they are "special" teachers that do not have their own classes to teach but instead are case managers (special education) or run programs in the school. It does seem unfair that these teachers get to schedule vacations in off-peak times when the rest of the teachers on staff do not.
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Post by christine58 on Jun 20, 2016 13:31:42 GMT
Oh, she is coming back. She has taken so many days off this year it is ridiculous, but admin thinks she walks on water. It is incredibly frustrating. I'm just happy I don't have to deal with her next year. Who does she know??? Or who is she sleeping with...Just saying...seen it |
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Post by secondlife on Jun 20, 2016 13:33:42 GMT
Oh, she is coming back. She has taken so many days off this year it is ridiculous, but admin thinks she walks on water. It is incredibly frustrating. I'm just happy I don't have to deal with her next year. Who does she know??? Or who is she sleeping with...Just saying...seen it Tired old sexist trope though. |
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Post by christine58 on Jun 20, 2016 13:34:05 GMT
But teachers take vacations too - they earn and are entitled to use their PTO - and admin obviously approved it. So it is what it is. Not sure where you live but we don't get PTO here in New York State. We have contractually given sick and personal (3 per year and they--unlike sick days--do not roll over). We cannot use Personal Days to extend school vacations. We also KNOW what our calendar is so to do this and get paid at the same time?? Not cool. Hope she took unpaid days |
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Post by christine58 on Jun 20, 2016 13:35:22 GMT
It would be against policy in my district. There is no personal time approved in the last two weeks of school. My most recent principal wouldn't approve it in the last month. You would have to call in sick each day, and on the third day you'd need a doctor's note to return. Same here but it's 5 days in a row |
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Post by christine58 on Jun 20, 2016 13:36:02 GMT
Who does she know??? Or who is she sleeping with...Just saying...seen it Tired old sexist trope though. OOH I've seen it with BOTH sexes..... |
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Post by SockMonkey on Jun 20, 2016 13:46:38 GMT
As a classroom teacher, would you take the last week of school off for a vacation? Not for an emergency but a planned vacation? I just can't wrap my brain around it but maybe my dislike of this person is clouding my judgement. A friend of hers won an all expense paid cruise and invited her along so it isn't something that could have been postponed so this was the only time the free vaca was offered. I am a specialist that works very closely with a classroom teacher that decided to go on a cruise this week which leaves the students with a sub all week which means that complete chaos is going to ensue in the classroom. I refuse to deal with it and will probably pull my kiddo out of the room to practice some skills and we might go on a last minute field trip (I have permissions for this). The icing on the cake was the email that I received early this morning asking if me and the classroom IA would mind SIGNING HER REPORT CARDS and stuffing the envelopes with whatever crap needs to go into the report card envelopes. Are you kidding me? I have my own work to do and the assumption that I have time to stuff envelopes for her is infuriating. I am not her IA and I am not her classroom helper and she can kiss my ass. Whew! Got that off my chest. :-) I will probably ignore the email and let the chips fall where they may. Thoughts? Not by choice, no. I had to miss the last three days of the school year a couple of years ago for a planned vacation. HOWEVER, the only reason that happened is that we had FOUR snow days, so the end of the school year shifted. My parents had booked a family vacation to Europe and we weren't really super flexible on the dates because it was 6 of us going, but the dates we were leaving should not have interfered, except for the damn snow days. I had to get it approved by my Principal and luckily she allowed me to go and to use the three personal days I'd accumulated. I knew in February that it would be happening, so there was plenty of notice. Also, I'm not a classroom teacher, so I didn't have grades/finals to take care of. I got all my duckies in a row before leaving and checked back in at school as soon as I returned so I could make sure the end of the year finished smoothly. That said, I'd never do that again. If it'd been just a friend vacation or something I hadn't planned? Something like a cruise? No. I would have made my apologies and said I couldn't go. And, it's very inappropriate for her to be asking the IA to finish her work. If anything, it should be a team leader or the principal who approved her leave. I would forward the email to her superior and let that person know you don't feel comfortable signing the report cards. SaveSave |
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paigepea
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Post by paigepea on Jun 20, 2016 13:55:57 GMT
As a teacher, I think there are many professions that have busy times of year and that if we as teachers want to be considered professionals that we also need to recognize that certain times of year are not good for vacation. I would put the final week of classes as a time of year that isn't great for vacation.
I feel like a lawyer wouldn't leave during a case or an accountant wouldn't leave during tax season. My dad was an accountant. We hibernated during tax season and came back to life after April. If he left for vacation during tax season he wouldn't have been considered as professional.
Of course all jobs are different. Is it awful that this teacher leaves? No. Does she display a strong sense of professionalism? No.
Our drama teacher had such strong attendance rules for the kids in her school play. Such strict rules, as a matter of fact, that we didn't allow our daughter to sign up. The week before the final performances this teacher went to an all inclusive in Mexico for a week to attend her girl friend's wedding. Is it ok to go? Ok. Was it a professional move? No.
Good luck this week. I'm sure it will be fine.
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Post by SockMonkey on Jun 20, 2016 14:01:43 GMT
As a teacher, I think there are many professions that have busy times of year and that if we as teachers want to be considered professionals that we also need to recognize that certain times of year are not good for vacation. I would put the final week of classes as a time of year that isn't great for vacation. I feel like a lawyer wouldn't leave during a case or an accountant wouldn't leave during tax season. My dad was an accountant. We hibernated during tax season and came back to life after April. If he left for vacation during tax season he wouldn't have been considered as professional. Of course all jobs are different. Is it awful that this teacher leaves? No. Does she display a strong sense of professionalism? No. Our drama teacher had cry strong attendance rules for the kids in her school play. Suck strict rules, as a matter of fact, that we didn't allow our daughter to sign up. The week before the final performances this teacher went to an all inclusive in Mexico for a week to attend her girl friend's wedding. Is it ok to go? Ok. Was it a professional move? No. Good luck this week. I'm sure it will be fine. I'm on your page. I was so stressed out for four months about having to miss three days of work (that, for me, are just 'clean up' days that require little from me). It felt very, very bad and I went out of my way to make sure everything that could be done in advance was done, that my assistant had everything she needed from me, etc. She was a great help, too. Again, I'd never do it again! SaveSave |
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Post by myshelly on Jun 20, 2016 14:40:17 GMT
I think if you have the days you're entitled to take them.
My DH is an elementary school teacher. He's taken off a week during the school year several times so we can go to places like WDW at off peak times. He did get paid as he had enough paid vacation and personal days to cover each week.
He was teacher of the year last school year and next year he's lead teacher. So it clearly hasn't affected his career or his principal's perception of him.
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Post by SockMonkey on Jun 20, 2016 14:53:13 GMT
I think if you have the days you're entitled to take them. My DH is an elementary school teacher. He's taken off a week during the school year several times so we can go to places like WDW at off peak times. He did get paid as he had enough paid vacation and personal days to cover each week. He was teacher of the year last school year and next year he's lead teacher. So it clearly hasn't affected his career or his principal's perception of him. I have never heard of a teacher getting paid vacation days. Personal days, yes. Sick days, yes. But we only get 2 personal days (and can bank one for a total of three). I can't imagine missing an entire week of school except for something extraordinary (and I don't consider WDW off-peak extraordinary). Do you have year-round school? SaveSave |
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Post by Merge on Jun 20, 2016 15:11:59 GMT
I think if you have the days you're entitled to take them. My DH is an elementary school teacher. He's taken off a week during the school year several times so we can go to places like WDW at off peak times. He did get paid as he had enough paid vacation and personal days to cover each week. He was teacher of the year last school year and next year he's lead teacher. So it clearly hasn't affected his career or his principal's perception of him. I have never heard of a teacher getting paid vacation days. Personal days, yes. Sick days, yes. But we only get 2 personal days (and can bank one for a total of three). I can't imagine missing an entire week of school except for something extraordinary (and I don't consider WDW off-peak extraordinary). Do you have year-round school? SaveSaveWe get five days of paid sick leave and five days of PTO. I think that's pretty standard in TX - the sick leave days are from the state, and can roll over year to year and follow you between districts. Technically you could use all your PTO to take a week long vacation, but that would be considered bad form in the schools I've worked in. The teachers who get away with it are usually the ones who have been there a long time. And there can be days/weeks when the use of PTO is specifically disallowed, like the day immediately before/after a school break or the aforementioned last two weeks of school. As an ancillary teacher, I would not choose to be gone for several days in a row. We frequently don't get subs or they are pulled to cover a regular classroom that doesn't have a sub, and my colleagues would have to split my classes. I wouldn't do that to them so I could go on vacation. |
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Post by meridon on Jun 20, 2016 15:39:08 GMT
Wow.....if given the opportunity, yes, I'd go! But I would also have all my stuff taken care of before I left, if possible. However, report cards might not have been printed yet for her to sign before she left since that's done by the registrar. In my district, it's made pretty clear that no personal days will be approved from about the beginning of May until the end of the year, but we're high school, so there are exams and AP exams and awards ceremonies and the senior luncheon and graduation going on, so there's literally something weird about the schedule every day in May.
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Post by christine58 on Jun 20, 2016 15:43:25 GMT
I think if you have the days you're entitled to take them. My DH is an elementary school teacher. He's taken off a week during the school year several times so we can go to places like WDW at off peak times. He did get paid as he had enough paid vacation and personal days to cover each week. He was teacher of the year last school year and next year he's lead teacher. So it clearly hasn't affected his career or his principal's perception of him. WOW..must be nice to get paid vacation days as a teacher. What state?? |
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Post by christine58 on Jun 20, 2016 15:45:45 GMT
We get five days of paid sick leave and five days of PTO. I think that's pretty standard in TX - the sick leave days are from the state, and can roll over year to year and follow you between districts. We get 12 sick and 3 personal where I work in New York State. Fairly standard across the board. Sick days roll over and unused personal become sick and roll over. We can accumulate 250 and turn in at retirement. But they wouldn't go with me to another school. |
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Post by freecharlie on Jun 20, 2016 15:50:00 GMT
Just answering OP and then I'll go back and read the thread.
No, I would not take the last week off and it is actually written into our contract that we cannot take any day the first two weeks or last two weeks as personal time without approval from the superintendent.
And i wouldn't want to. The last week of school isnreview, finals, and good-byes. I'm not going to miss that unless there was a very important reason.
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seaexplore
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Post by seaexplore on Jun 20, 2016 15:50:21 GMT
I'm a teacher. My first reaction is hell no should she be taking those days off! BUT if all her crap is done and things are set to go, why not? In my district it most likely would not be approved depending on who you are. In 2004, DH and I had an opportunity to go to Hawaii in October. I needed to take Thursday, friday, Monday off. I had 30 days of leave accrued, we get 10 total days per year that we can roll over, in those 10 days we get 3 "no tell" days to use as we see fit. I put in to use those 3 days and was told that it would be unpaid. I went anyway. It was worth it. When I got back, another teacher left to go see her SIL play at golf at Augusta. I found out it was paid. She straight up said it was vacation. WTF? It totally depends on who you are in my district.
This year, I missed the whole last trimester of school (used 59 days) because I was out on maternity leave. I was a wreck and full of worry to get the year closed out. My sub (a past student of mine, who got hired for a position at my site this coming year!) did a fantastic job. I helped her out from home via email and texts. I have to go in and "finish" my room, not sure what that is but I can do it the beginning of August per my principal. We go back August 8 so, I'll go in a few days early. I need to do it anyway to get my room ready to start the year and give science books to other teachers since I will be all math this coming year.
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