Cash-strapped district to charge teachers to plug in

[Newsjock]

Source: Detroit News

BELLEVILLE -- Teachers routinely use their own money to buy assorted supplies for their classroom. Starting Jan. 1, teachers in Van Buren Public Schools will have to reach deeper into their pockets to pay for plugging in a coffee pot at school.

In a move to save money that has some teachers miffed, the school board has decided to assess fees for teachers who want to use microwaves, mini-fridges or other small appliances in their classrooms. Costs will range from $13 for a microwave to $32 for a coffee pot and $182 for a mini-fridge.

... Grosse Pointe Public Schools adopted a similar policy of charging for use of appliances last year. Garden City schools tried a similar policy in 2006-07, but abandoned the idea this year.

"We did it last year, and it's not a really easy thing to manage," said Sheryl Quinn, business services manager for Garden City schools. "We're taking a different initiative this year and just trying to be more conservative."

Read more: http://detnews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20081119/SCHOOLS/811190389/1408/LOCAL

[Hobarticus]

1. Isn't Grosse Point where that hideous Halloween GOP woman was from?

You know the one... she denied candy to Obama supporters' children?

[southerncrone]

2. Teaching has become such a thankless job, and now THIS?!

This borders on the absurd. Are the central office employees also being charged for their appliances?
I bet not, the appliances are most likely SUPPLIED FOR THEM including the electricity to run them.

One might say OK to this if teachers were paid anywhere near what they are worth compared to their required levels of education.
This is just another slap in the face to teachers.
I'm already considering leaving the profession for a number of much bigger reasons. Something like this would probably push me over the edge.

Soon, no one will enter this profession & then what will America do for free "day care" for the kiddies?
:(

[superconnected]

5. Many Many people have high regard for teachers. Unfortunately it's not the buerocracy.

The districts really are poor. Our county is laying off police officers that we desperately need because we can't afford them. We call it the Bush economy.

[silverojo]

3. What the hell?

When I went to school, we never had stuff like microwaves or coffeemakers, let alone mini-fridges, in our classrooms! There was a place called the Teacher's Lounge, where teachers went if they wanted to have something to eat or drink.

How can people who are underpaid buy extra extravagances like this for their classrooms? At least buy something that will actually help educate students, not just appliances to help a teacher stuff his/her face.

And how are they going to set an eco-friendly example to their students, when they're unnecessarily using appliances that devour so much energy? Why should the school foot the bill for such a ridiculous waste of electricity?

I swear, the laziness of humankind never fails to amaze me. You want to eat? Get up and walk (yes, WALK!) to the Teacher's Lounge. Students sure can't prepare meals or snacks in a classroom, and neither should teachers.

[Bushies gotta go]

7. You obviously know very little about

what teachers go through, what they give of themselves (including paying for many many things the school should be paying for), what they don't have. In most schools, it is not possible to just "get up and leave", even to go to the bathroom. get a grip.

[southerncrone]

12. How long has it been since you darkened the door of a public school in session?

Many schools no longer have teacher's lounges because of overcrowding. Classes are now being held in those rooms. Classes are also being held in what were once CLOSETS!

These appliances are paid for BY THE TEACHERS, the school doesn't supply them. We have them because we have so little time to eat, that by the time we walk to the cafeteria & back our lunch time is over. My classroom is almost 1/4 mile from the cafeteria. We also are expected to handle calls to & from parents & other requirements during this time as well, so it leaves precious little time for "stuffing our faces" as you call it.

Another reason we have these in our rooms is because the school lunches are nothing but fat & starch, not the healthiest for anyone, especially if you fight a weight problem to begin with. By bringing our lunches & not paying for the school food we actually SAVE enough money to pay for these.

We frequently must pay for supplies out of our own pocket, because "there's no room in the budget for anymore". This is especially true since gas & energy costs have soared. Oh, yea, & the expensive mandates of NCLB. We actually had schools in our state last year that had to hold raffles & bake sales to earn gas $ to continue running the buses to finish out the end of the year! They had understandably not budgeted enough to allow for the exorbitant jump in gas prices.

I suggest you not cast stones until you've walked a mile in our moccasins.

[kiva]

13. Yup, teachers are treated as professionals, all right.

God forbid that after working for a college degree, competing to get an underpaid position (because you might actually want make a positive difference), and balancing the demands of students, parents, and administrators, that you want a damn cup of coffee--from a coffee maker you had to purchase.

It's none of your business how "people who are underpaid" manage their money, nor do you have any right to demand that they spend any of discretionary income on educational material (that should be provided by the school district).

Finally, if you're so concerned about setting an eco-friendly example, maybe you could consider unplugging your computer.

[YvonneCa]

15. Teachers' lounges...

...are now used for tutoring, meetings, PTA fundraising, babysitting, and before and after school classes...and the polls on election day! Things are not as you remember them.

That said...some schools have gone from a day with no phone and two electrical outlets per classroom, to high tech...which enables the small appliance problem. There probably are too many, using too much electricity, and creating hazards for kids. Charging a fee...while I think it is a bad idea...will probably limit the appliances.

And, for what it's worth, I've never met a lazy teacher that survived one year as a teacher.

[KakistocracyHater]

4. Kicked by those at the top

how different from films from the 1930s........oh, wait...that WAS how they portrayed a 'certain type' of boss.

[Twinguard]

6. Let me get this straight...

Teachers aren't paid enough to afford daily Starbucks, so they are charged if they want to bring their own Mr. Coffee to help them get their caffeine fix. They are forced to live on a budget, unable to afford eating at restaurants every day, so they are charged if they want to bring a microwave or a fridge to prepare their meals at lunchtime. To whom does this make any sense at all?

My parents were both teachers. Without their coffee and brown bag lunches (which often needed some heating or refrigeration) I doubt that they would have been able to last as teachers until retirement.

Teachers have a difficult and thankless job. They aren't paid what they are worth. They have to deal with their students, the parents of their students, fellow teachers, and the administrations of their schools and school districts. That sounds like a lot of pressure to me. What is so wrong about letting them brew up a pot of coffee or warming up a bowl of soup for lunch?

My suggestion: tar and feather the genius that came up with this asinine idea.

[YvonneCa]

16. Thank you. From a retired...

...teacher. :)

[liberal N proud]

8. Bring a thermos and cooler from home for gods sake

Keep your lunch in a insulated lunch bag and eat salad or cold meat sandwich for lunch.

I do it nearly every day. I have an insulated lunch bag and two ice packs that I freeze every night. I bring a can of soda and a sandwich along with a salad or fruit. I arrive at work at 6:30 and it keeps plenty cold enough to last until noon or later.


You don't need a coffee pot, microwave and fridge in your office to survive.

Bringing your own cooler is a little greener than the other options too.

[YvonneCa]

17. That's what I always did...

...too. I always felt as if I 'lived' at my school...so if I brought in a refrigerator, microwave and coffee pot I maight as well bring the sleeping bag, too. What the heck! :7

[riverdeep]

9. I never heard of these things in classrooms either, there used to be a teacher's lounge.

But I'm not sure that's the point. Do the administrators have perks? And contrast that attitude of belt tightening with these stories:

"Willis says the bricks of money were also sometimes referred to as footballs, "… because we passed them around in little pickup games in our office," he says laughing."

("Billions Wasted In Iraq?")
http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2006/02/09/60minutes/main1302378.shtml

"American International Group Inc., the insurer that vowed to temper spending after hosting a conference at a California resort amid a federal bailout, plans to sponsor a similar event at a $400-a-night hotel."

("AIG to host second resort conference after drawing criticism")
http://www.azcentral.com/business/articles/2008/10/08/20081008AIGredux07-ON.html

It's funny how money can never be found for certain things, while war and legal hold-ups aren't hurting at all. The poor tighten their belts, the rich loosen them to make room for all the extra pork.

[bean fidhleir]

10. We can be sure the admin costs --not all of them obvious-- will eat any savings (nt)

[CRK7376]

11. What a bunch of JACKASSES!

When I was teaching, 13 years in a rural high school, our department shared one microwave for the 8 classrooms in our building. Maybe 3 of the shared conference rooms, shared between two classrooms, had coffee pots. Not a lot of coffee drinkers in my dept, or they got their caffeine from other sources...Me, I'm not a big coffee drinker, but suck down the Pepsi's...I find it very ironic that the schools want to charge the teachers for microwave's and coffeepots. Bet there is a coffee pot and microwave near the princpal/admin office. I hated the teacher's lounge, only went there because that's where our mailboxes were located. As stated by several, I always carried a brown bag lunch and a thermos of tea, ate in my classroom etc...oh well.

[itsrobert]

14. The Government needs to convert Public Schools to Solar/Wind

Install Solar Cells on the roofs. This should be part of the US Economic Recovery Plan.