Waiver Day and Job Changes

Today is Waiver Day and that means the students gets a day off but the staff still goes to school. I went because all my paperwork were finally processed and I just made permanent today whereas before I was just a "substitute" (if you're a sub you don't go to work during waiver days). I should be happy about my new work status but I'm not. Now, I only work 4 hours instead of the 6 full hours. My contract is half-time permanent meaning I have to look for another job if I want to have money put in the bank. And I definitely do in order to go to grad school in two years.

Work today was just a meeting but it was very eye opening and brought home the fact that big changes need to be made in the way teachers must teach in order to meet the standards of No Child Left Behind in the limited amount of time the teachers have with their students.

There are big things happening in public education here in Hawaii. The public school teachers had voted about 2 weeks ago and they agreed to 17 furlough days every school year for the next 2 years--meaning the all the public schools in Hawaii will shut down for 17 Fridays this school year beginning next week. This compromise was necessary to makeup for the state's budget shortfall and it's the lesser evil between all the other options. There are concerns about the 7.9% loss in wages for all school employees (no teachers = no students = no work for the rest of the school's staff) but most are more worried about the loss of time spent with students.

My younger siblings were happy to hear the news of course because it meant three-day weekends for almost the rest of the school year. Little do they know... I think ultimately the children are going to suffer because their education is being taken away from them--you can't get back 17 days of learning.