between a rock and a hard place
Well we have a new teaching contract. I'm excited I have a job, but I am not excited about the measly amount I will get for my retirement. I know that teachers don't make a lot of money, and I'm fine with that. But in return we get some good vacation time, insurance and a good retirement. Well just X the last one off of that list because it is no longer true.
Granted I will not stay in Klamath forever (crosses fingers) but I do think that what has happened in negotiations is a common trend all over the state. No matter where I go I will not be getting good retirement benefits and I will have to work until I am going down the halls with a walker!
It all ended with a vote last night. The agenda: to approve or to decline the offer the district made for us. When it came for the vote to be handed in I couldn't, in good faith, vote for either of the choices. They were approve the contract (which was horrible for new teachers) or vote against it (which would have a high probability of ending in a strike). I couldn't support a strike. People are loosing jobs left and right, the state has frozen funding and the economy is going down the tubes. How would striking solve anything? Yes we might get better benefits, but at what cost? Loss of respect by the community? Large amounts of pink slips in our boxes come March?
In the end I picked up my ballot and stuck it in the box. I left with a sour taste in my mouth, but since then I have had time to contemplate. I have realized that I don't want to put my trust for retirement in something so fickle and changeable (I might as well invest if that were the case). Thats pretty much my week in a nutshell.
oh and only 2 more kids to test for ELPA (out of 100)!
Granted I will not stay in Klamath forever (crosses fingers) but I do think that what has happened in negotiations is a common trend all over the state. No matter where I go I will not be getting good retirement benefits and I will have to work until I am going down the halls with a walker!
It all ended with a vote last night. The agenda: to approve or to decline the offer the district made for us. When it came for the vote to be handed in I couldn't, in good faith, vote for either of the choices. They were approve the contract (which was horrible for new teachers) or vote against it (which would have a high probability of ending in a strike). I couldn't support a strike. People are loosing jobs left and right, the state has frozen funding and the economy is going down the tubes. How would striking solve anything? Yes we might get better benefits, but at what cost? Loss of respect by the community? Large amounts of pink slips in our boxes come March?
In the end I picked up my ballot and stuck it in the box. I left with a sour taste in my mouth, but since then I have had time to contemplate. I have realized that I don't want to put my trust for retirement in something so fickle and changeable (I might as well invest if that were the case). Thats pretty much my week in a nutshell.
oh and only 2 more kids to test for ELPA (out of 100)!