I write to you as a mother, a wife, a friend, and an educator.
I take so much pride in all 3 of the above mentioned roles, and they each play such a strong part of who I am.
I won’t mention where I teach, but for the sake of this article I will say that I don’t live in Florida.
My students are my world. I treat them like I would my own children.
I know how difficult it is to raise a child, and to instill strong and high moral values in them during their youth, it really takes a village.
The other day, I saw a fundraising campaign launched by a few dedicated principals and parents of LEC, in South Florida.
The objective of this fundraiser was simple, really:
Help ease the financial burden from a dedicated staff of the school.
Inflation has hit us all, it’s no secret that things are much more expensive than they used to be, across the board.
Gas, groceries, clothing, literally everything.
These bold and dedicated individuals brilliantly formatted this campaign as an opportunity to say thank you, or show gratitude to the staff members of the school, with the objective of offering an extra monthly stipend to each and every one of them.
For some reason, and this is not limited to the orthodox Jewish world, people who choose a career in education find themselves at the same time choosing against a life of financial stability and prosperity.
Don’t get me wrong, schools everywhere, and especially in our community do a wonderful job taking care of their staff, this is just the sad reality of the world we live in.
I commend the principals of LEC for this wonderful initiative, and I think other schools should replicate this model.
Think about it:
Teachers have arguably the 2nd most important job in the upbringing of our children. How often do we get the chance to simply say “thank you”?
I encourage all the parents and grandparents of children in LEC to take a moment and show their appreciation by donating at raisethon.com/fuelourstaff.
You have no idea how far a simple gesture like this goes!
Such a thoughtful and powerful campaign. Kol hakavod to the organizers and contributors.
Thank you Leah!
I don’t get why people complain about low teaching salaries. If the job is so hard to do and not enough good teachers, couldn’t teachers ask for market rate? You don’t need a union to negotiate wages. You just need to be willing to push for more and leave for another job. we should also pay on merit and accomplishment
Sadly, many MANY teachers are leaving. These past few years have lost our community and the world at large so many incredible teachers. Was it the low pay? Was it the lack of appreciation and support? Was it the misunderstanding by parents of what a good teacher does? Maybe all of the above, maybe a different reason, but they are leaving, and there will be more leaving… The true question is how to convince teachers to stay, and how to educate young adults that teaching is so important and worthy of their dedication to its sacred task. Supporting teachers is… Read more »
where are they leaving to?
Teachers left because some schools were/are not requiring the Covid vaccine and they felt unsafe returning to a school where they could Gd forbid die or bring the virus home to family members.
Teachers are also leaving/are getting fired because schools are banning books and restricting what teachers are allowed to discuss in the classroom. It’s a disgusting, Nazi-reminiscent censorship that is spreading throughout this country.
If I was told to return to a virus infested school that required me to teach a false, watered down version of history and literature, I’d find a new profession in a heartbeat.
“According to the NYT” should clue you in right away that it’s fake news. Normal people don’t “feel unsafe” about schools not requiring the Covid vaccine, mainly because normal people realize that at this point Covid is basically just the flu, and that the “vaccines” for it do more harm than good.
As for “disgusting, Nazi-reminiscent censorship” – on the contrary, the CRT-inspired curricula that they’re fighting against, which boil down to “whitey bad, Black good,” would have been right at home in Nazi Germany with the races swapped.
The moisad will often just let the teacher who wants a real raise go. Then they’ll take a younger person and pay them less.
Are you a full tuition payer? Because of purple like you who can’t respect a teachers commitment to chinuch, kids don’t respect teachers either. It is exactly your sentiment that is destroying our schools.
its impossible because tuitions would need to be raised too hi for parent body to afford
If they are fundraising to give the teachers an extra stipend. Why are schools raising the tuition. Isn’t it true that everyone is being affected by inflation?
I just negotiated with yeshiva my son’s tuition. They increased it by 9%. Because of inflation. Other years it was only increased by 3% because inflation was lower. But lets look at prices. Gas is more than double. Dollar Tree is $1.25 Tree. Eggs at Empire Kosher went from $1.19 to $3.49. Every item in all stores are up MINIMUM 15%? It’s a farce that inflation is only 8.5% as government claims. So if a school makes an initiative to pass more money to the teachers than their formal salary increase, we can fargin that teachers will have their pain… Read more »
It is embarrasing …. you need to give them gas money because their salaries don’t cover expenses. How do you think the teachers feel? To have to get handouts by Yom Tov, Simcha or big life expenses, and now… for gas. Why don’t you pay them enough so they can pay for things in life? Isn’t chinuch the most important job? Why does it barely pay? Like any other chabad moised, fundraise to cover needed salaries when there is deficit This is why many capable people, many of my friends, are leaving Chinuch. There has to be a better solution… Read more »
When done well (like this!), Teachers feel celebrated and appreciated.
This is not a campaign because nebach the teachers desperately NEED it, instead this is a rally to support and stand by our teachers (like you) because they DESERVE this!
There is such a lack of respect for chinuch and teachers, compared to other frum communities. That is really what’s embarrassing. Teachers should be placed on a pedestal by the community and the community should jump at a chance to show their gratitude. It’s normal for a school to do a fundraiser and this is one where the community is being shown that they can gift teachers directly. Teacher salaries is not a one school problem, as clearly written above, it’s global and not only in the Jewish world…. How sad that you look at a group of principals trying… Read more »
Please don’t look at the numbers, and determine from that, that the parents in the school don’t appreciate the teachers. The opposite is true! They are so appreciated, that parents just shelled out hundreds of dollars in end of year teacher appreciation gifts, just a few weeks ago! People can only give what they’re able to, and I’m sure most have. (Not to mention, many have outstanding tuition bills, and that needs to get paid before they make “extra” donations to the school. Please keep all this in mind, before judging the parents!
Schools pay what they can. They can only obligate themselves to pay teachers what they forecast that they’d actually be able to pay, and if generous supporters create a fund to enable a Pesach or Tishrei stipend, that is very generous. If you feel it’s too beneath you to claim, nobody is compelling you to accept it. It would be more humiliating it schools would over promise, fail to deliver and put you in the position of begging for the paycheck that wasn’t feasible to begin with.
You are more appreciated than the salary.
A teacher usually can’t just leave for a better job, necessarily! Getting a new teaching job isn’t so easy! And as far as negotiating, the powers that be usually have a certain amount designated for each staff position. Sometimes it’s negotiable at private institutions, but usually not. And in public schools there are specific rates based on college degrees and years in the system! There are times when teachers feel pushed to strike, sometimes they get a raise. Why didn’t they get the raise in the first place?! It seems to me often the $ is there but not given!… Read more »
Medicine is the same. Welcome to reality.
We should also ensure that there is equality. Men teachers and women teachers should be paid the same. Teachers impact children regardless if they are a man or a woman.
LEC is the best school
– LEC 8th grader of 2021/22 !!
Always make sure you are outwardly thanking your teachers and pointing out that you are noticing their efforts.
Finally, there is a positive, gratitude filled op-ed!
(The headline got me scared, but I guess it was just clickbait)
Keep it up!
M. Shmei