Is it the economic situation, a growing sense of entitlement among this new generation of parents, laziness or ignorance that is causing the increase in outrageous demands made by parents for nannies? I’m talking about ads asking for a full-time nanny and wanting nanny to perform dog walking, cat grooming, errands, ironing, cooking etc., right in the ad. Or folks that want 40-55 hours of work for $150 or less a week with multiple children and they don’t want to consider a nanny share and they want to argue with you about your wage and get offended when you tell them you can’t accept wages that low. It wasn’t always this way. What gives?
64 comments:
I think it is this damn economy. It angers me to go on sittercity or Care.com and see people asking the world from us Nannies, yet the pay is so piddly. I think many families are taking advantage of the situation and it sucks to be a Nanny right now. :(
I think the craziness on Sittercity and Care.com has to than the econ do wtih them advertising on TV now.
Honestly I think it's more to do with entitlement and laziness.
I removed myself from Care.com and Sittercity because my blood pressure spiked to obscene levels whenever I read over the daily email of job postings.
I think it's a combination of everything you said. Crappy economy, laziness, ignorance, entitlement.
People suck.
It's happening all over; in the corporate world people are also being asked to do the workload that used to be divided among two or three people, with no increase in pay.
I'm not saying it's right; but it IS the economy.
And it won't change until we vote the Wall-Street-backing-Republicans out of office.
It is really disgusting, the salary that a lot of people are offering for childcare. There was a VERY high profile family that I met on Care.com who have 2 children and want someone "oncall 24/7". Yet they were offering $10-15 an hr. Really??? You're a millionaire, but you want me to cook/clean/run errands/protect your privacy/shield your kids from the paparazzi/get a permit to carry a gun (I'm not kidding)/AND take care of two kids under the age of 3 for $10-15 an hour??? Good luck with that.
I can understand lowered wages with in reason $150 for 40 plus hours of work is not resonable, but I do think lowered wages is related to the economy.
But you can't tell me throwing in walking the dog, ironing & washing mom & dad clothing, grooming the cat, cooking for everyone, and being errand girl is anything else but someone being lazy & entitled. You can do that all yourself for free.
Reasonable families still exist, you've just got to work a bit harder to find them.
The thing that upsets me more than the low wages crazy chores is that thesse families can't seem to understand why they don't hold on to a nanny. They then go and bash all nannies instead of realizing that maybe peope need to live on more than $400 a month.
what happened to CL-WTF? I always enjoyed that segment.
This is why I've started working a few part time jobs instead of looking for full time. I was offered so many interviews for jobs making $7-10 an hour and with my credentials and experience I won't take that with no house work let alone what these families want me to do. Seems they are much more willing to pay $15 an hour if you're only working 15 hours a week vs 40, so I have different families each day.
Also, I'm almost positive that what's happening is that so many women with literally no experience nannying can't find jobs and they say "hey nannying is easy and I'm a woman, I can do that". So you have these woman coming in and accepting the $8 an hour jobs because it's better than nothing, and those of us with experience can't find a livable wage. I've seen so many friends of mine/acquaintances just decide to be nannies because they think finding work will be easy, and it is if you'll work a ridiculous wage.
It is the economy and the illegals coming into the country taking up our jobs and doing it for a lower wage. My husband can't work for any company anymore because they WONT pay him a decent wage.
He went to a job interview and spoke to a white man in his 30's who just got done with his interview and my husband asked what this job was paying. He said $17 per hour plus miles. My husband was really happy went into the office and the boss quoted him $10 no miles... why? he is Mexican. They expected him to be basically a slave, being on call 24-7 and not showing a fucking thing for it. Now he is self employed but it wa still sick to have to deal with that kind of shit.
Vote Democratic. We need powerful unions again, and that is the only way we are going to get them.
According to yahoos trending new topics, nannies in NYC are making 185,000 and more per year! I'm a nanny and in NY, and it's so not true! But even if some are hauling in that much, check out the comments! They are so rude! Nannies deserve a little more respect then we get.I hate when the job gets undermined. No it's not rocket science, but it's not always fun, clean or easy. And as for being cheapskates,
I wish families weren't always looking for a "deal". You don't barter with your hair dresser right? Don't under cut your sitter/nanny.
I wish we had a Union! :)
In America being a nanny or anyone working with children isn't respected in general. It's sad, but true and I don't see that changing.
I do not think having a union is the answer. Unions come with problems.
I blame certain parenting websites that claim that your nanny will be eager to perform extra chores while baby is sleeping.
Beezus, my friend sent me that story and told me (jokingly) to move to NY and get a job like that. I saw some of those comments and was very offended but then had to remind myself how ignorant most of the yahoo commenters are. They were saying stuff like how nannying is the easiest job in the world and how these nannies making 180K need to just work for a couple of years and invest their money and then retire. (It was very hard to keep myself from mouthing off to them, yall know what a sharp tongue I have!)
Stephanie Says How Rude, I adore your screenname! I loved Full House so much I think I had every episode memorized when I was young. I agree with you that unions are not the answer. I personally think that all unions should be abolished because they are very outdated and I believe they can get corrupted very easily. Having a nanny union would just cause a bunch of different problems. BTW, I am confused by what you said about nannies performing chores. It is the general consensus that a nanny should do a few chores during naptime, though I know a few nannies do not agree to this. A reputable nanny website or agency should advertise nannies that do work.
Love Full House.
I forget the website, but they weren't suggesting typical naptime chores like your tidying up, kid's laundry, and maybe dinner. It was more a long the lines of full housekeeper duties things that no one could accomplish during naptime or without neglecting the charges during the day.
I agree with you that nannies , families, and agencies should be upfront with what chores a nanny is willing to and what a family expects.
My pet peeve is my teacher friends who are constantly complaining about how little money they get. I know what teachers make,and I know what I make (Lead Teacher in a childcare center) and they have nothing to complain about. Or at lease not as much as we do. We also have to deal with administration, form relationships with parents and children, create and maintain a safe, educational space, play and implement curriculum, etc and we get paid peanuts compared to public school teachers.
And many of us (myself included) have BAs and are teacher certified to work in Early Childhood Ed.
Fair? How is that fair? I've sort of had it with young teachers complaing about how much they make.
No kidding!! Daycares pay peanuts for the amount of work they expect their teachers to put in. And I hate hearing public school teachers complain about their salaries too, especially when they get paid during the summers and daycares are open during the summers. (taking in all the kids from public schools because the parents still have to work!) Public school teachers have unions, salaries, excellent benefits, TENURE! They have it really good, sure they don't get respect, but no teacher does, get over it. Yes, the schools aren't getting any money, but you have to be creative with your funding. Maybe the football team doesn't need all new uniforms for the 3rd year in a row. When I tried pointing this out to a teacher friend of mine she told me I have no place to say any of it because I wasn't a "real" teacher. Yes, I blocked her on facebook after that one. It pissed me off just that much.
OK, enough ranting. Sorry 'bout that.
@MissMannah
I'd just like to point out that teachers do not get paid during the summers. What most school systems do is offer a savings plan system that deducts from their pay during the school year, so that they still receive a pay check during the summer. Likewise for Christmas and Spring break. Teachers receive absolutely no paid vacation.
As for unions, salaries, benefits, and tenure, those vary greatly from school system to school system. The system my mother works in doesn't have tenure, the union isn't allowed to strike (which renders it pretty much useless for large scale issues), and they are trying to get teachers to pay for %100 of their health care coverage during the summer. So while those things can be a big help to some teachers, that's certainly not the case for all (or even most).
Also, just about every teacher I know would rather the funding go to better places than football uniforms or (in the case of my county) lavish administrative office buildings. But they're not the ones making those decisions. Just as I'm sure if you had control of how to distribute the funding in your pre-school it would likely be very different :)
of course it's the economy. Of course people who don't have nanny experience are going to start going after nanny jobs. Nannying is about the only profession I can think can pay so much for just having some common sense and the ability to relate to children. If I needed to find a job, you can bet the first thing I'd look for would be childcare. I would offer to work for less because I'd have to look after my own kids as well. Lots of people in professions who have employed nannies in the past are seeing cuts in pay in their own jobs or are being asked to do more work for the same pay...you can bet they are going to tighten their belts too. Nannies are not going to be immune to this.
I second teacher's daughter. My roommate is a kindergarten teacher and I end up making more money then her as-nanny without a masters degree. Although she gets summers off, she is forced to work in order to maintain a decent living.
Yes, teachers make more then daycare providers. They have to obtain master degrees while daycare providers only need a class and some experience. Plus the way corporate daycares are run, we should be paying teachers even more to correct the poor teaching and behavior issues from daycares.
The problem is that parents spend tons of money on things other than their kids. I have worked for a lot of families who spend insane amounts of money on vacations, clothes, electronics, cars, etc for themselves, and freak out over the costs of raising a child. I even knew one woman who pulled her child out of private school and put her in public, because she "couldn't afford it." Then I saw her start coming home with bags full of designer clothes and jewelry for herself. Evidently looking good was more important to her than her daughter's education.
No kidding, even parents who spend tons of money on their kids skimp when it comes to paying their nanny. I knew a family who spent 20grand on their baby's first birthday, but paid the nanny minimum wage. Wouldn't it be better to spend that on quality child care than on a party that your kid won't even remember?
Some parents also overload their kids with toys, games, bikes, etc. I nannied for a one year old once who had 7 toy cars. Not only is that a ridiculous expense, but it teaches kids not to value anything they have, because Mom and Dad will always buy more. Wouldn't the parents rather have a great nanny doing activities with them, instead of rooms and rooms and rooms of toys that they don't even care about?
I don't get some parents. My aunt overloaded her kid with toys. My little cousin is a psycho now.
It wasn't just the toys she let her daughter do anything she wanted to. When the daughter 'S' was 4 years old she was still eating baby food, bootle, binki...diapers. S didn't want to be weaned or potty trained. Mom said that was ok and just let S do what she wanted. S started to learn how to get what she wanted by being over dramatic. She taught herself how to vomit when she was upset. She vomited at school so much her mom thought she was allergic to something and began to homeschool her. Now S was afraid to sleep by herself. So her mom did what any psycho bitch would do. She kicked her husband out of the bed and she slept with her daughter. That was their sleeping arangement for 15 years. The husband finally decided to divorce my aunt. She put S before him and let he do whatever she wanted. And wouldn't you know it that was nothing.
S had no friends and she didn't want any. Her mom made her afraid of people and to this day she doesn't come out of her house. I saw her once. She lives 10 min away from me and my cousin never goes outside. She still lives with her mom. She hates her mom and she abuses her. My aunt works all day and all S does it eat pizza and sit inside. She looks like a marshmallow. she hasn't had a ray on sunshine on her face in 10 years. My aunt had a nanny in the beginning. The nanny wasn't paid well even though they were loaded. THis was in northen Cali. They had tons of money and the nanny finally quit because my aunt was a SAHM then and would follow her around. She would make the nanny pick out clothes for S to wear that matched hers. She and my cousin dressed alike.
This was and still is a seriously strange situation. My aunt doesn't want S talking to anyone. It's like she keeps her as a doll. Well now the doll is 23 and is starting to get mad like any caged animal would do. She might kill my aunt. Not like ha ha shes going to kill her. I mean grabbing knife and stabbing her multiple times while she sleeps.
Very odd how some parents are crazy. and that isn't even the worst of my family members. Well only half family. The mom of my aunt and grandmother to S is evil. Plain ass evil. The devil would be afraid to be near her
moral of story
crazy parents make crazy kids who turn into crazy adults.
Holy crap, Phoenix! I thought my family was strange.
I agree with Stephanie I don't think much value is placed on caring for or teaching children in this country.
Doesn't matter if you're a nanny, daycare teacher, or public school teacher with a Masters people still look at you as though you're little more than a teenage babysitter with an easy job.
I have a family full of teachers and you wouldn't believe the stories they tell.
It's truly sad.
Yes times are tough and we all have to cut back, but how far? I think it's sad when a nanny or teacher has to apply for public assistance just to get by.
yeah and my husband's family...I couldn't make a movie about it. His family members are so mean to one another. His uncle used (probably still does) any drug that was put in front of him. he was going to rob his mom (my husband's grandmother) of all her gold and she hid is from him so he blew up her car in her carport while she was at home sleeping.
And that was the nicest they've ever been to eachother. all of them in and out of prison.
one of my favorite stories was a diff uncle brother to the first one who blew up his mom's car was also an addict. He stole someone's boom box (this was in the early 90's) it was 3 am so no one was around. He steals the boom box and tucks it under his arm and walks home with no one in sight. He gets home and realized he locked himself out of the house. So he sets the boom box down on the back patio goes and jimmy's his way into his house. Walks back to his patio and realizes someone stole the boom box. The funny thing is he felt like he'd been robbed. But he lifted the thing 30 min to that and someone else stole it. IRONY and KARMA. This is the same man that would put on a really nice suit and go into a jewelry store in the mall. Ask the guy if he could try on the most expensive watch in the place puts it one and bolts. Running quickly away. He never got caught doing that somehow but he did it all the time. My husband's family is a bunch of criminals and mine are a bunch of rednecks. We have some intelligance but not much.
I don't know if you guys saw the news interviews with Charity Newton about her son that "dissapeared" at a camp verde camping grounds but if you did you would have noticed she isn't the brightest tool in the shed. Charity is one of my second cousins and Sylar who was the little boy that was murdered was my third cousin. He looked exactly like my first cousin's baby. strong genes
I think that teachers should be paid a lot more. They are shaping the kids who are going to be the future of the planet. If the teachers feel abused they will take it out on the children because they will be over worked. It is very sad.
***could***
not *couldn't*
I ***could make a movie about it***
sorry i'm going to fast
Phoenix, thanks for sharing your life story with us, but that extremely long ramble really didn't have very much to do with this post. This is about people paying crappy nanny wages, not your crazy family.
i know that. ugh. reading comprehension isn't everyone's strong suit. I started off with the nanny part and why the nanny quit when paired with a crazy parent. Then someone said something about screwed up families. So then going with flow of conversation, I added more family stories which in fact to still include crazy kids and parents. Then I rounded it off with also agreeing that our teachers are under-paid. And then someone else should respond to keep the flow of conversation moving right along.
I'm sorry you don't understand communication
Apparently you guys need to move to Oklahoma. Yes, our teachers do not make very much, probably the lowest salaries in the country but that's because our cost of living is so low. But they have great benefits and I know for a fact that they paid year-round. We have a lot of teachers in my family. And none of them have gone to grad school.
I was always under the impression that teachers were paid during the summer plus their benefits. And when they retire they have a nice pension. The teachers in AZ have stayed the same and the kids they teach are different. They are a lot meaner and half of them 100% bilingual in english and spanish. And I would estimate only 20% of students just starting out don't speak any English at all. When my step-son first started going to school he only spoke spanish. He couldn't even talk to me and my husband. I truly believe that teachers of the younger generations are more important than the ones of middle and high school students. Just becaue they are in charge of making sure the kids all get a fair start in life. Sadly though most teachers don't know how to deal with this problem in my state and I think it makes them feel helpless. The kids no longer do their homework because their parents don't undertstand enough to be able to help them. So they just don' do it. This has brought our grading curve down on the standardized tests. Now teachers no longer teach out of a book they teach what is on that test and that is it. The teachers are graded on the kids performance even though it isn't an accurate to do that. The teacher isn't teaching anyting different, the kids are not understanding what they are being taught. My step son struggled with this for years. Finally when he was in 4th grade it all just clicked on.
I think a nanny is also in charge of perparing kids for school. Like learning how to write your name, being poilite, manners, sharing. but parents don't reinforce it so its a never ending spiral down
My husband is union. After 13 years, he gets 4 weeks of paid vacation. 10 sick/personal days. 4 floating holidays. As much bereavement time as needed, not even for an immediate family member. If a holiday is worked, it's DOUBLE time and a half. Holidays are the five big holidays plus-the Friday after Thanksgiving. Also, MLK and Veterans day. He gets a COLA annually, thanks to negotiations made by his union. If he is fired, he has representation. Best of all, without a doubt, a minute worked past 40 hours, he's paid time and half. I don't know a single nanny who gets true overtime for 40 hours.
Yeah, LOTS of problems with Unions.
I just want to throw in here that there are big differences between private sector unions and public unions. Generally, private sector unions have been VERY beneficial for the worker - and by extension - the consumer. In fact, we can thank the private sector unions for much of our current employment law, which provides valuable protections to the worker that they did not have before WWII.
Public sector unions (for government jobs) are very, very different. The poice and firefighter unions are strong because they essentially police themselves, and can vote to give themselves raises and benefits much like the politicians do. In many states, however, the School Board has all the real power within the education system, leaving the teachers union to be very careful about what they choose to fight for. Teachers don't have as much control over their jobs and future as one might think.
The teacher's union originally began to keep Universities from firing seasoned Professors and replacing them with newer teachers, who were cheaper to pay. That's how tenure began. But Universities are very different than Elementary and High Schools, and the two should not share the same "business model". We have seen how it screws up lower education.
In my opinion, the entire lower education system needs to be overhauled, but I don't see it actually happening. Instead, I see those parents who care about their children's education (but can't afford private school) dropping out of traditional education and using more products like online and homeschool for their children.
Sadly many employers (including the office ones) have been lowering the wages as there are so many people who need a job... someone will take it. It doesn't make it right. As long as they pay over minimum wage they can do it. But honestly I would rather take a couple of part time jobs and not work full time for a higher wage than a full time low income one. My feeling is it balances out. And that way you can look for something else with your free time.
If you are a nanny, it is often beneficial to have several part time jobs and in the end you make more money. I did that once and it worked out well, although it was difficult to schedule at times. However, that doesn't always work out for people who need health insurance from their employers and therefore must work full time. Currently I am working full time (outside of being a nanny) and I have to keep that status in order to keep my health insurance. Unfortunately I am not making enough money to pay all my bills AND save money so I am thinking of dropping my 40 hours to 30 hours (since that's all that's required for full time at my job) and getting another part time job. So technically I'll be full time at one job and part time at another. It's sad that it has to come to that- for a lot of people, not just me. It's also sad that I work with special needs children and (in my opinion) don't make enough money, while athletes out there are getting millions to run after a ball and work out. Just doesn't seem fair to me. I think it boils down to the fact that there are so many people in child care/teaching compared to pro athletes who are looked at as gods in America. It's really a shame.
You are so right Strawberry. This country places way too much emphasis on acquiring items and entertaining ourselves, and not enough on caring for precious children. The salaries that sports stars get is disgusting, most of them are morons with no morals and no education. It makes me sick to see teachers and nannies and people who work with children struggling to pay bills while the country is fawning all over idiot sports stars.
well athletes get paid well true but they have to work for it and normally after they retire they are so broken and used up they can hardly function. I think athletes who get paid a grip do so because they are talented. I don't know if people understand how hard they work and what happens to their body.
LOL anyone else think Phoenix just disagrees for the sake of disagreeing? You do seem to contradict everything everyone says, no matter what it's about.
Sports stars are often talented, yes. I know I can't run to save my life, let alone tackle people or hit a ball several hundred feet. But I definitely consider what I do a talent too! The difference is that most of their talent is physical whereas teachers' talents (and others who work with children) are skills. I am a behavior therapist and I work with children who are on the autism spectrum and I'm sure none of those athletes would last a day in my shoes. It takes a lot of training (mental, not physical) to be able to deal with children all day, especially children with special needs. I know it is like comparing apples to oranges but my point is that they are talented but so are we. And I am talking about any of those jobs that people tend you look down upon, like nurses, teachers, child care workers, public service, etc. And don't get me started on garbage men... they definitely don't get paid enough. Or the people who work in sewers! I would never want to do that in a million years. I am not saying that everyone should make millions because that would never work but it should definitely be more balanced. I'm sure a celebrity like Kim Kardashian couldn't care less about a behavior therapist but if she ever had a child born with autism, she would go crying to one to fix her child. I can see it now...
@MissMannah
Let's try explaining this again. I, as a teacher, get a salary. I am not an hourly employee. I DO NOT get paid for not working over the summer. I can either get paid in 21 payments and not get a check over the summer OR I can opt to have my salary paid out in 26 payments and get a "paycheck" throughout the summer. Either way, it equals the same amount of money.
For example, I make around $40,000 a year as a public school teacher (true story- I live in New England, where the cost of living is ridiculous and gas is $4 a gallon). I have a Master's degree AND a Sixth Year Certificate (essentially a second Master's). I still make that same $40,000 whether I get paid through the 10-month school year or opt to get paid though out the calendar year.
Also, it's wonderful that in OK you don't need an advanced degree to keep your certificate, but in order for me to keep my job, I had to start my first Master's degree within five years of getting my initial certification and finish within seven years or my cert was no longer valid. Do you understand? I had to PAY $20,000 AND spend my summers (I mean, why get paid to stay home when I could be getting paid to go to school?!?!) taking courses SO I COULD KEEP MY JOB! Do you as a nanny have to do that?
I LOVE my job. I love my students and I love what I do, but I dare you to spend one day teaching Language Arts and Math to middle schoolers. I dare you. Then tell me how great and easy I have it.
I can't believe how freaking ignorant people can be. Shut your mouth about stuff you don't understand.
You tell me to shut my mouth about things I don't understand. I was explaining how things working in Oklahoma...of course I don't understand how things work in New England--I've never lived there, nor do I know anybody who does! If you make $40,000 working there with a Master's then yes, I agree you are grossly underpaid and frankly I have no idea why you would continue.
And I don't know why you chose to taunt me about teaching middle schoolers. I would never choose to do that because I do not like children that age. I nanny for babies for a reason, I can relate to them better than a bunch of smart-ass middle schoolers. It is an apples and oranges comparison, nobody has it easier or better as far as the job is concerned. I simply said public school teachers shouldn't complain about the salary and benefits in comparison to daycare teachers.
And I don't know why you keep arguing with me that you don't get paid over summers but then you admit you can choose to get your salary spread out over 26 paychecks. So which is it--do you get paid year round or not? I never said you got paid FOR the summers off, I said you got paid DURING the summer when you're off. There is a distinct difference.
Normally, I defend teachers and think that they along with daycare workers and nannies deserve better pay.
Some of the teachers in the post have the snottiest attitude.
I also live in New England , and most nannies in my area would be thrilled to make $40,000 a year and that's even among those with advanced degrees. Yes, they could probably work in schools, but they'd rather work in the home one on one with the family.
I wouldn't be so snotty towards nannies & daycare workers when they are the ones caring for your kids allowing you to work your full time teaching job.
It's alarming that a middle school teacher with an advanced degree clearly struggles with basic reading comprehension
It's sad what this has turned into.
Yes nannies, daycare workers, teachers generally speaking are all grossly underpaid and not respected by general society.
What's worse as evdidenced here, there's no respect among each group. We have nannies putting down other nannies, nannies putting down teachers, teachers putting down nannies, nannies putting down daycare workers it's sad.
Wow Miss Mannah...I would not want to live in Oklahoma...no thank you. I live in Cali where we have 365 days a year of pure sunshine + the most beautiful people on the planet. Sure gas is $4.50/gal but that is the price you pay for waking up in Paradise every day, right?
Oklahoma sounds booorring to me.
The ignorant comments and constant arguing are just another reason that I stop reading this site as much as I used to. What kind of person needs to come on a public forum and ARGUE with people? Say your peace, make your point, and move on. Is your life that boring that you have to fight so damn much? Seriously. Some of you should be ashamed of the level of dysfunction you display.
To return to the topic,
Is there a downward spiral in QUALITY nanny jobs? There is an article in this Sunday's NY Times Magazine titled The $200,000 Nanny Club, "Why do some New York nannies earn more than doctors?"
A nanny was interviewed who makes $180,000 a year plus bonus and a $3,000 a month apt. on Central Park West!
What's with all these articles lately of 6 figure nannies?
I wouldn't exactly say it's the norm , and it's not like it's easy to land those gigs.
Why shouldn't your nanny make 6 figures? I'd ike to read the argument on that.
Cali Girl, you're right, you don't want to live here among the rednecks. Neither do I. As soon as my husband and I graduate college, we're going to start looking for other jobs out of state. Though I could point out the economic mess California's in right now...I'll pass.
Some of you may remember my post about the job that paid me $6.00 an hour a while back. I just wanted ya'll to know that I have a new full time nanny job plus nanny share 2 days a week starting next week!
Someone mentioned it before, but Care.com has that terrible $5-10 or the $5-5 option. I can't believe them! I wrote to Care and complained. There isn't a nanny/sitter job out there that should be paying less than $8 and that's pushing it.
Time is valuable and some people just don't appreciate that.
$5 is not a fair representation of how anyone's hours spent being an outstanding nanny should be reimbursed. Not even close!
P.S Cheap mom didn't find a new nanny, just got grandma! hahah
OK, Miss Mannah, I simmered for a few days and I apologize for my rant that should not have been directed at you. At least here in CT, we are struggling with a governor who truly believes that teachers are overpaid/ underworked/ spoiled, etc. He's trying to push radical changes that would eliminate tenure (I believe that tenure needs to be changed, but not completely eliminated) and would tie everything from certification to pay grade to job status to your evaluations as a teacher and you have to make the top level of evaluation (exemplary versus proficient, needs improvement or poor) or you lose your certification level/ pay rate, etc.
Up here, all we hear about is that we "only work part time" and that teachers make $70,000+ per year AND we have a job for life so long as we "just show up for four years" (that last part is an actual quote from our governor). In reality, most of us work 50+ hours per week grading papers/ writing lessons/ attending meetings/ sitting on committees, etc. The "average" salary for a teacher is $70,000, but that's because there are teachers who are within a few years of retirement who are making $90,000+ per year and that really skews the stats.
I also hate when I get told that I get paid for not working in the summer (after I reread, you never actually said we got paid for the summer), but a lot of people do believe that. I don't. I actually get 21 bi-weekly checks and then one check in June that is equal to five paychecks. I still need to budget over the summer, but it's easier than trying to budget over the whole year for the three months of no checks.
So again, I'm sorry. And you did ask why I continue to do this for the piddly amount that I make. Truly, I LOVE teaching (much like many of the nannies on here LOVE nannying). I love the kids, the conversations we have, the relationships I form with my colleagues and students and most of all, I love knowing that at the end of the day I've made a difference in the lives of my students. That's why I keep doing this.
CaliGirl, are you sure you're not from Texas? It was pouring cats and dogs today. :)
@Lila...I am from Diego.
So if Cali is so great why the hell do they move to AZ? My state of crawling with people from Cali and I don't know why. I had a huge argument with some idiot from Oragne County about the guns laws here. She was trying to tell me that my AK47 was illegal. Nope not in my state. I have no clue why the people from CA come to my state looking for work. We don't pay any better and the cost of living is almost the same amount. The teachers here don't make shit and it is becoming a requirement for them to all be fluent in Spanish. I really wish we could get quality education out here especially for the younger kids.
My son was so lucky that he is 100% fluent in both English and Spanish. When I first got him back he didn't know how to spell his name or count! The daycare provider he went wasn't preparing the kids for school. We have some really good well intended people who work in childcare here but after a few years most get burnt out because of stress.
The inner city kids are dangerous most of the time and almost all of the teachers need to have an interpretor in their class rooms and they get no help from the kids parents when it comes to homework. So if anyone out there can speak some Spanish and you want to try to help look for work in AZ. The little cities outside Phoenix like Scottsdale, Mesa, Tempe, Gilbert, Surprise and many more are better to work in. Phoenix and Glendale is really tough on our teachers. And they don't get paid shit. I was contemplating teaching English to high school students but if they don't get paid for the summer unless they teach summer school that might be hard.
The schools are federally funded. I don't know how it is in other states but here some of the schools in the city charge fees for signing the students up for PUBLIC school. I don't understand that. I still know my 1st grade teacher cuz she is my best friends mom and she still teachers elementary school students. She said that she gets a great pension and wonderful benefits. I don't know teachers, do you guys make more for the grade? Subject? Experience? Do you have to have degrees in teaching specifically or just a degree period? I honestly don't know how it works and would like more info if we have any teachers out there.
Phoenix, they are moving out of state because there are no jobs left in California. All the beautiful people have taken them.
Teacher, thank you and I accept your apology. I can understand how frustrating it can be dealing with government officials who obviously do not respect you. Your governor sounds very ignorant to me. Ours also is, to a degree, but she knows what the people wants, which is why she has been trying to pour money into public education...which of course I agree is a good thing but unfortunately she has been taking money away from other programs to do it. Everything in life is a give-and-take, I understand this, but there's only so much you can take in order to give. Last year we had a state question coming up to raise teachers' salaries (substantially, from what I understand) and give the school money for supplies and whatnot. Unfortunately that money was going to be taken from the state early childhood education and the mental health funds (another one that my family uses) so I was fervently against it. The backlash was horrible as soon as my teacher friends saw I was against the state question, I actually lost a few friends over it because they believed I did not care about their livelihood or about education.
LMAO. All the beautiful people! Oh so funny. Californians have been coming to AZ since before the economic downfall. They can't drive and they as a group aren't very intelligent. Some are very smart. Most just seem to think they can bring that CA attitude into AZ and get away with it. That's always fun to watch. People from NY do the same thing. Can you say wild west?
One of my friends was doing IT for the board of education and she was telling me how much the district admin people make. Like 3 figures some of them and they are the ones in charge of funneling the money to the schools. She said that the gov't is having trouble making the districts give up the right amount of money to the schools because they hold onto it or they pay themselves higher wages. I don't know why they are getting away with that. But I was pissed! If my sons school is making me pay an entrance fee and PE fee for his public school that is plain ass wrong! Considering too the property tax the city collects "for the school systems" where we live is part of the most expensive neighborhood in Phoenix. There is no reason to charge the parents fees. One poor lady had 4 kids going to the school. She had to shell out $700 total for all her kids. And if you don't pay, they don't let the kids go.
And Miss Mannah if you had friends leave you over politics they weren't good friends. I know that you and I don't share very many common beliefs about politics but that would be no reason to not speak to you. They are what you believe. But most people I've come across are simple and petty and ignorant. It is what it is
I thought it was illegal for public schools to charge parents or to deny children entry.
You're right, they weren't good friends. More like "people I knew years ago that for some reason or another I still hung out with sometimes." It was no big loss. My brother-in-law and I get into political arguments from time to time but we love each other and get along well most of the time so we know when to stop and would never let it get to the point where it would ruin our family. It is dangerous when people talk about politics without respect.
yeah I thought it was illegal too. I was causing a scene when I signed my son up for school.
I am from CA and think we all are beautiful here...maybe I am a bit prejudiced.
Just kiddin'.....
you make CA beautiful :)
Thank you Phoenix...you're sweet. ☺
I couldn't read all the comments, there was so much going on! Personally, I believe the problem lies in the daycare system. I will someday open a preschool and run it, but until that time, daycare and in-home daycare specifically (the ones who charge 25 bucks a day for kids? Yeah.), are to blame imo.
I live in Portland, and there are SO MANY childcare centers. I constantly have to refer families to them, because what they want is ridiculous. Right now, if I do on-call or short-term work it's $45 for 5 hours, and an additional $5 for each hour after. And that's not including if they have more than 2 kids, or if they live more than 10 miles from my house (that's an extra $10 on the top). Mainly because that's just how I make spending cash, so I CAN appeal to a crowd looking to pay a bit less for those sorts of things.
For a regular, day-to-day nanny job, however, it's got to be $11 or more an hour.
I can't afford anything less, not with the price of gas, possibly having to pay to park if they live downtown, paying all of my bills and still having money to put away?
I hate that we live in a world where the people who should be getting paid the most often earn the least. I would love to someday have a nanny to help out 1-2 days a week, and for that I would pay my nanny WAY MORE than I make, generally. When I actually find a family that's good with paying over $10 bucks an hour for childcare, I pretty much am born again inside.
I worked for one woman who paid me $100 a week for 20 hours of childcare, and $20 for gas to drive her kids to/from school those days. Same lady also drove a BMW that wasn't paid off and paid (I know this because she had a list on the side of the fridge for her monthly bills) over $$850 a month for a 2 bedroom apartment..
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