Letter: Treat poorly paid teachers more kindly

Monday, Aug. 8, 2005 | 8:52 a.m.

One misconception about teachers is that they do not work a full year. This was suggested in a recent letter that you published. Teachers in the Clark County School District are contracted to work 184 days, but they must complete their work no matter how long it takes. In other words, teachers work many hours of overtime for which they are not compensated. Teachers do not get paid vacation or paid holidays; they just get the time off.

Another controversial topic is starting pay. What critics don't understand is that the salary schedule for teachers is based on experience working for the district, not for prior teaching experience. This means that teachers who move to Clark County with previous experience are still paid starting wages. This is not the way to lure experienced teachers.

A teacher employed for the first year at CCSD and holding a bachelor's degree will earn $28,491. A first-year teacher with a master's will receive $33,514 and a first-year teacher with a doctoral degree will earn $37,354. This salary schedule just isn't competitive today.

Some critics say that teachers can quickly move up the pay scale by pursuing professional education. I am currently working on my second master's degree. It takes 16 credits, at a personal cost of $2,800, to move up the pay scale for an increase in pay of about $1,600.

I love my teaching job and I would be happy doing it for the rest of my working life. The one thing I didn't foresee when I started my career was the constant negative publicity that teachers receive as a group. Considering the great need for teachers in this school district, if the public is not willing to compensate them fairly, treating them kindly would be a sensible choice.

KATHERINE BUTLER