Teachers have absolutely no place to work in my school. Here is a picture of a friend standing in the book room and working on his lesson plans. He is standing, as there are no chairs. Also missing are windows, fans, and air conditioners. The room is full of dust. I guess this really doesn't matter because he is a NYC teacher, also a Queens resident. The citizens of NYC pay low taxes, so this is what we should expect.
This is a picture of two boys getting math help in the book room that the teacher above is working in. There is no place for them to sit, or to put their book bags. But, their parents don't pay huge property taxes so I guess they are getting what they deserve.
(Sorry for the sarcasm, but an anonymous commenter seems to think that since we don't pay big buck property taxes, our kids are not entitled to a decent learning environment.)
6 comments:
People at our school, Packeminanscrewem High, have classrooms in former tiny offices, and therapists do hearing and vision services in dusty dingy bookrooms. These therapists are itinerant and service several schools, so therefore they have no dibs at all on any space anywhere. Bathrooms are transformed into offices for guidance people. The school is filthy and the trailers,several of which were obtained used to begin with over a decade ago, are absolutely decrepit and rusting out. Classes cannot be held in those trailers when it rains hard, and the area is flooded for days afterward. Instead of a "can-do" attitude that many of us have, the DoomKleinGarten administration has a "make-do" attitude. Hey make do and no one will notice how they destroyed a once great system that always had room for improvement and great potential. Now administration and rank and file are pitted firmly against one another. How any of this is improving our kids' education is beyond me. So now they'll blame the middle class who does pay taxes. I suppose homeowners could have paid more tax in the past. However, not only were they not asked, but they would contribute in other ways, such as being involved and there for their kids. Our kids deserve better treatment. This system is crawling with so many administrators; it's topheavy and there's so much waste. It's more than shortsighted to blame taxpayers when DoomKleinGarten are wasting our money. Speaking of which, has anyone thought about the fact that there are all these ATR's and all these fresh out of the box new teachers all paying huge union dues that are going up again? They can collect from seasoned experienced people who have been relegated to high paid subs, and the newbies who have no clue about unions, just how to dress. The indignities of this system just keep on comin'!!
Thanks for your comments. They are well appreciated.
A picture is worth a thousand words. Thanks for putting the light on this issue.
actually, to answer the first commenter, they were asked, by Mayor Bloomberg. He raised property taxes when he first came into office a slight amount, and never heard the end of it. As a LI resident, my taxes go up every year. But I don't mind, because I get what I pay for. I have quality schools. Please don't make it out to sound as if I don't care about the students or that I am a Bloomberg apologist. Neither could be further from the truth. As a staunch UFT member, I disagree with nearly everything Bloomberg has done, except the discipline procedures he has put in, which I think are mostly fair and improve the schools. I agree with the above comment though, that there are two many admins in the system, and money is wasted. In any beauracracy money is wasted, should no money be spent on education because of that? Money is wasted in LI districts all the time. The LI high school I attended had 3 APs and a principal. The high school I now teach in has 8 APs and a principal. Both schools were similar in size and diversity. In an earlier comment pissed off mentioned the commuter tax. I would have no problem paying a commuter tax if it was dedicated towards education. If a person owns a 500,000 dollar house in the city, they pay on average half as much in property (income) tax then a LI resident owning the same priced home. Some in Nassau pay three times as much. Once again, you get what you pay for.
On a side note, if the city schools could remove all the illegal immigrants who don't contribute to the income tax/property tax from their rolls, that would greatly reduce the overcrowding situation. But I digress, that is an argument for another day.
I would have no problems paying taxes on the market value of my home. But, if I I did, I would expect the same kind of services that LI home owners and residents get. Sometimes, you just don't get what you pay for.
well, pay the same and then you can compare yourselves to Long Island schools. Until there is the same amount of taxes paid, it is an apples to oranges comparison.
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