Quakertown loses 41 teachers to retirement

A dear Alumni Friend from Quakertown sent this article to me in Key Largo, FL. where I live with my husband. I have a Deep Concern for the NEW Caveat of Teachers that Will be Hired by our School District Members. May ALL the new teacher candidates be of EXCELLENT SKILLED TEACHING AND MORAL requirements for our students; THIS IS A GREAT NUMBER OF TEACHERS TO REPLACE!!
Unfortunately, it always has to do with MONEY! The same as our Nation! Corporates and Corporations.. It Saddens Me.....

Joanne Snyder Haney wrote:

A dear Alumni Friend from Quakertown sent this article to me in Key Largo, FL. where I live with my husband. I have a Deep Concern for the NEW Caveat of Teachers that Will be Hired by our School District Members. May ALL the new teacher candidates be of EXCELLENT SKILLED TEACHING AND MORAL requirements for our students; THIS IS A GREAT NUMBER OF TEACHERS TO REPLACE!!
Unfortunately, it always has to do with MONEY! The same as our Nation! Corporates and Corporations.. It Saddens Me.....

I hear your concerns, but Quakertown has always been known the hire the best candidate, which doesn't always mean the newbie.

We are losing more than the experience of these incredible educators.

We are also losing the role models the newly hired, fresh from school, young twenty something teachers need to further hone their craft. The professors at colleges can only teach certain things. It is in the classrooms of their new jobs and in the teachers lounges at their new schools that the more experienced teachers mentor their youthful counterparts.

This is also irreplaceable experience.

The statistics don't show that. What we're really seeing is teachers retiring at 55 and buying into a state funded medical plan that will pay for their medical till they reach Medicare age. They still get to keep their medical from the plan they bought into from the state teachers asoc.
Maybe their craft has been honed a little too much by these elder statesmen ?

jones wrote:

The statistics don't show that. What we're really seeing is teachers retiring at 55 and buying into a state funded medical plan that will pay for their medical till they reach Medicare age. They still get to keep their medical from the plan they bought into from the state teachers asoc.
Maybe their craft has been honed a little too much by these elder statesmen ?

AND how many come back and sub for HOW MUCH per day??????

yoooooooo wrote:

<quoted text>
AND how many come back and sub for HOW MUCH per day??????

I just saw Souderton hires subs at 98 or 115 a day. Not really that much money at all.

The "logic" is always the same with American public schools: They claim they want the best and brightest but what they really want are over-paid administrators and new teachers who can be hired as cheaply as possible.
Let's see who they hire to replace these veteran teachers. I bet most new hires will NOT be experienced or with an advanced degree in their field, but rather a kid right out of a mediocre college with a (near useless) degree in Education. They will NOT be an expert in science or math or literature or political science, but rather be stuffed with alot of educational theory that might sound good but in reality is mostly useless.

People with college degrees in subjects other than education will be shunned and those with advanced degrees will be ignored because the priority is to hire new graduates CHEAPLY - not experienced experts in any field of study. I'd like to see a statistical breakdown of the new hires. I guarantee you most of them will be cheaply hired rookies and almost all of them will have a degree in Education. That means a bunch of wet behind the ears kids who know almost nothing of the real world.

Is there any wonder why the USA now ranks last or near the bottom of every catagory of public education compared to all the Industrialized Nations? Woe is us.

best teacher Q.S.D ever had was Teacher Mr. coleman AKA as coach coleman

Bucks County Resident wrote:

<quoted text>I just saw Souderton hires subs at 98 or 115 a day. Not really that much money at all.

That per day plus the retirement pension isn't that bad at all - especially for those that worked more than 35 years!

I also don't recall any of these teachers being FORCED out. The district put out an incentive, it was the teacher's choice to act on it or not.

Joanne Snyder Haney wrote:

A dear Alumni Friend from Quakertown sent this article to me in Key Largo, FL. where I live with my husband. I have a Deep Concern for the NEW Caveat of Teachers that Will be Hired by our School District Members. May ALL the new teacher candidates be of EXCELLENT SKILLED TEACHING AND MORAL requirements for our students; THIS IS A GREAT NUMBER OF TEACHERS TO REPLACE!!
Unfortunately, it always has to do with MONEY! The same as our Nation! Corporates and Corporations.. It Saddens Me.....

Money is a big part of it because people have to afford to live which is an increasing harder thing to do as taxes and now energy costs take a larger bites from peoples incomes every year.

Bucks County Resident wrote:

<quoted text>I just saw Souderton hires subs at 98 or 115 a day. Not really that much money at all.

That's a sub. Not a retired teacher as a sub. I bet they get close to $200.00 a day.

A sub and a retired teacher sub are 2 different kinds of sub.

A school can claim sub shortage and keep the retired subs (at $200 per day) working.

Now a days, a sub can even check on line to see who they wanna sub for. Maybe I'll sub today and maybe not!

I wonder how many retired teachers (male) acting as subs, sub for Home Ed. or even girls gym class.

YES - girls gym class.

Hometown_Q-Town wrote:

best teacher Q.S.D ever had was Teacher Mr. coleman AKA as coach coleman

Did he teach you to write and read? It's good he's going if this is the grammar you've learned.

Hometown_Q-Town wrote:

best teacher Q.S.D ever had was Teacher Mr. coleman AKA as coach coleman

Coach Coleman was great! I saw him a few years back and he still remembered me!

Also, Mr. Don Young. After he retired, he used to work at the News Stand, and had a joke for you every day! Hell of a nice guy! My mother had him when he was fresh out of college and was notorious for having pop quizzes in class!

perhaps we can hire newbies with good skills and a moderate salary. What is the starting dollars in Q'town district.

I know a young girl for science that is so bright and she would love to teach at her old HS. She says the lists are 'rigged'. It's WHO you know.

Yes, it is definitely "rigged" in most school districts. You have to "know somebody." This is one of the many reasons our public school systems are so bad compared with other nations.

Karen wrote:

perhaps we can hire newbies with good skills and a moderate salary. What is the starting dollars in Q'town district.
I know a young girl for science that is so bright and she would love to teach at her old HS. She says the lists are 'rigged'. It's WHO you know.

Welcome to the real world. This should be her first lesson.

I agree with the posts on here about QCSD. I was born and raised here and I am greatly saddened by the policies of the district. I know of many qualified candidates that were passed over in favor of hiring student teachers with no real experience. I was told when I graduated college with a teaching degree "sorry you need experience to be a contracted teacher". Over the years I have acquired a diverse background and a plethora of experiences, all in my field of expertise as well as with children of all ages. I have also been a substitute for the last four years and earned two long term assignments in that time. This last year I decided to focus my efforts on QCSD because I really wanted to teach at my alma mater, however I was faced with many dirty little secrets that few people on the outside ever hear about. The district has given the shaft to many qualified teachers who put in their time through blood, sweat and tears in the hopes of obtaining a teaching contract. I thought you were supposed to be rewarded for being an awesome and reliable substitute but in QCSD that is not the case. I am one of many who feel that way but we remain silent because we fear being blacklisted if we were to speak out. We all really desire to teach but we don't know the "right" people it seems. It doesn't matter that you work every day at our schools, earning the respect of the students, staff, and administrators, nor that you have back up lesson plans because the ones you were left by the green, contracted teacher are crap. I think, "this person got hired and I am not even granted an interview?" I know that I can do the job better than this. I care about my students more than this. I am more professional and would never leave half-baked lesson plans, because I have walked a mile in a substitute's shoes! I would never leave an outdated seating chart because I know that knowing the students by name is more than half the battle. I have learned the QCSD will take until there is nothing left to give back to the substitutes that are working hard to earn a full-time contract. Warn your sons and daughters that they do NOT want to sub for QCSD, because a sub shortage may be the ONLY thing that will change their policies. They should hire people who show loyalty, not just people who are greedy for the big bucks. People who sub for at least a year, who love our community and children, not the big, fat checks that are promised.

the school board approved last week used an Average salary and benefits package for the new positions of $66,900.

''We're hiring the best candidate for the positions, which has resulted in a mix of new hires and experienced people,'' Edwards said.

>>>Great news for those who wanted early retirment at 55. As mentioned, you can still substitute teach and still bring in close to $30,000 per year while in retirement, plus collect a pension, plus IRA, plus 403(b) plan if you were offered one, plus non-tax deferred investments. Plus, if you have a spouse in a similar position, you too could be writing from Key Largo, FL. Who said, public positions don't pay?

I will also note that these type of mass incentive retirment plans have a ripple effect. Many teachers from other school districts looking for an out will apply. I would bet my lucky stars that a boat load of Allentown School District teacher applied for these new open positons, which further stresses an already stressed school district for any experience in the classroom and the ability to attract and retain the best teachers. It also put inflationary pressure on other school districts to come up and equally the higher starting pays of the northern tier schools districts of Montgomery and Bucks County.

To 'Experience Does Matter'

If you were applying for a teaching position the above composition would disqualify you before you reached an interview.
You claim to have "graduated college with a teaching degree". What college awarded you a degree? What subject did you major in and what subject or grade level did you hope teach?
For the sake of our children I hope you teach phys ed, art or music classes and not a subject or grade level that requires your teaching grammar or composition.

My composition was written from my heart. It was not to be considered as a graded essay. If it were, I would have written it to the "Powers that Be" and not on an informal message board.

My education reflects what QCSD has hired in the past, thank you very much.