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Teachers in Lakeville get time off to write letters

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Industry Observer

The Lakeville, MN School District has agreed to allow teachers to leave their assigned classroom to write recommendation letters for students applying for college admission.  Upon their request, their classroom duties will be covered with substitute teachers.  No teachers will be asking to be replaced today or tomorrow because they are all theoretically attending their labor union's convention, for which they are annually allowed time off.  I always wondered why those conventions couldn't be scheduled on weekends or during the three month summer recess.  I guess I'm just not educated enough to figure that one out.

 

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 Mike Carlier  Lakeville, MN

 

612-916-3033

 

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Steve Matsumoto
Winderemere Homes & Estates: waterfront condos, second homes - Oceanside, CA
First Time Home Buyers - Oceanside, CA

Mike,

Full disclosure--I am a former teacher and my wife is a high school English teacher.  Teaching is a odd commodity and it's unfortunate that teacher salaries have to be tied to property taxes.  If a school district puts value on sending its high school graduates on to college (which many do) then I do see the value in giving teachers time to write recommendations. Let's say a popular and effective teacher was asked by 60 students for a recommendation letter. Each one of those letters make constitute 1 - 2 hours of time.  Finishing those letters is a  considerable task that in my opinion is very much part of the job.

Steve

Oct 20, 2011 05:51 AM
Mike Carlier
Lakeville, MN
More opinions than you want to hear about.

Steve, everyone feels overworked and underpaid, and most of us are.  I guess if I were tasked with writing sixty letters on a similar subject, the time to produce the last one would be a little less than the time for the first.  If a popular and effective teacher were asked to produce sixty recommendation letters, my guess is that they would get done with enthusiasm and effectively, with or without the opportunity to skip a few classes to accomplish the task.

Oct 20, 2011 06:10 AM
Don Sabinske
Don Sabinske, Sabinske & Associates Inc. - Zimmerman, MN
Sabinske & Associates Inc.

I agree with you, Mike.  First of all this whole MEA thing is odd.  Hold it during the summer.  And, the recommedation letters are important, but, let's take that off the table and pay them if necessary to do after the students have been dismissed for the day.  They have to be there anyway.

Oct 20, 2011 09:23 AM
Mike Carlier
Lakeville, MN
More opinions than you want to hear about.

Don, I know it's a collective bargaining detail, and it was probably an easy concession for the bureaucrats on the other side of the table.  The principle of it annoys me a little.  Are teachers professionals or factory workers?  Extra time or extra pay or time off to write a letter just sounds more like a demand from a factory worker. 

Oct 20, 2011 12:26 PM
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