Yes

I know because I pay your salary!

Exactly my point

ic, why are YOU so bitter? I guess you are one of the teachers who are in it just for the money after that last comment.

God help our students is right, especially with the education they are getting today from the teachers that are out there now.

Yes it must be nice to have that nice 4 day weekend. Plus parents than need to either find someone to watch their children for those extr 2 days or need to take off vacation time themselves. If they are going to have a convention they should have it in the Summer, since the teachers have the whole Summer off anyway.

I don't think anyone said they got paid for the Summer off, but they do have it off thta would be a good time for them to go to this conventions. Since the majority do not go to it anyway and if they really do care for the children they would still go. I am not a Christie fan at all, but I still say they work part time for a huge full time salary. I say this because I have children who have gone to school. Most teachers do as little as possible, although there are some decent ones who actually may care about teaching. For the most part the majority are there to collect their pay checks and to do as little as possible, at least that is the way it is in Toms River schools.

What? I thought it was an "option" to either get paid more for 8+ months or less for 12 months. Still works out the same if you do the math. IC, Stupid comment about "applying myself in school". I was smart (or stupid since I could of been on that gravy train too!) enough to chose another career...so there. Merry Christmas.

If you've never taught, how would you have any idea about how much personal time is spent grading papers, preparing a weekly planbook, doing report cards, etc.? Just having a child in school doesn't make a person an authority on teaching. And yes, I was a teacher for 31 years, and I am truly grateful to be retired as there is such a lack of respect for the profession nowadays. Neither I nor my colleagues ever worked a "part-time" job!
And, ..., thank you for your support.

Trust me they ask for as much as they possibly can. I am sure the teachers fill your head with how they do everything for the children. Is that why they fight every chance they can for more money?

Ken, those salaries are for 180 days of work. Their salaries are fair, and their pensions are obscene. It's hard to sypathize with people like this:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WdqQTIQhn5A&feature=relmfu
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0Yt2SwDuhQ4&feature=relmfu
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TEPLbLdfMlc

Project Bluebeam... I hope you are kidding when you say those salaries are fair for 180 days of work. They are way to high, but I do agree about the benefits/pensions.

***MORE than fair***

50k for 180 days not bad.

50K is pretty good for part-time work and its equivalent to a full-time job making $100K. 90K is even better for a part-time job.

There should be no tenure to gegin with. What other job in the real world guarentees you a job no matter what you do or do not do? Yes gym, teachers, shop teachers and many others like them get paid just as much a other teachers and I will give you that, they do even less work. As far as lesson plans they just keep using the same ones year after year after year.

I live in a neighborhood full of teachers and I'm so tired of hearing about all the time they spend grading papers and writing lessons plans. They go into work at 8am and are home by 2pm...so if they have to spend 3 hours at home grading papers than congratulations they worked a full 8-10 hour day...welcome to the big boy/girl world of long hours.

Actually I had very good experiences in school, but that was in the day that teachers really did care. Now it is just if your kid can't get a job get them a teaching job. Toms River schools are so full of nepotism, it does not matter if you are a good teacher as long as you are related to someone.

There may be some truly deicated teachers, but I personally would say they were the minority, but you are correct the others do make it look bad for them. If you ever went to Toms River schools directory you would be shocked on how many are related to each other and some you can tell because of married names. My children had some good teachers in Toms River, but not that many. It also seems the newer ones coming in, especially the ones with connections are just there to get their pay checks, which is a shame.

It's still in Jefferson's letter to the Danbury Baptist Association (1802) where it always has been, not the US Constitution. What actually IS on the Constitution is this:

"Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the government for a redress of grievances."

Translation: You don't have to belong to a specific religion in order to be an American citizen. Plain and simple. It says NOTHING bout banning religious displays, prayers, or references in government institutions.