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Syracuse Junior High teacher Christine Stephens helps
Kristina Bithoulkas, 13, with a math problem in a summer school class last
week. Stephens, a single mom, earns $21 an hour teaching summer school,
money she needs to supplement her regular teaching salary. (Francisco
Kjolseth/The Salt Lake Tribune
)
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Kael Ashton has a summer job any college student would
love.
As manager of Willow Creek Country Club's pool in Sandy,
he gets outside and organizes parties. He manages the lifeguards and
supervises the swim team and swim lessons.
The thing is, Ashton isn't a
student.
He is a 32-year-old physical education teacher at Olympus
High in Holladay. With six years of experience, he
makes $31,000 a year, plus $2,000 for being the girls
basketball coach and $1,500 to serve as athletic director.
"You gotta pay the bills, and teaching alone doesn't
do it," says the father of two children, ages 4 and 1.
The Utah Office of Education doesn't track how many of the
state's 21,292 teachers have summer jobs. But with
families to support and average yearly salaries of about $40,000, many have
no choice.
Teaching, in a way, presents a paradox.
Americans say they have tremendous respect for
teachers. Yet teachers say society does not respect them or what they do.
According to a 2003 survey by the nonprofit research
organization Public Agenda,
about 70 percent of Americans
consider teaching a prestigious profession. At the same time, up to 76
percent of teachers nationwide say they are often demoralized, frustrated and
grossly underpaid. Many report working summer jobs that pay far below their
academic-year wages.
Teachers stay in the classroom because they love their
jobs. But that doesn't prevent them from being discouraged.
"If we were treated like professionals - like
doctors, lawyers or police officers who pull you over, a lot more teachers
would stay in education," says Tony Romanello, 42, who has taught for 19
years. He teaches math at Copper Hills
High School in West
Jordan. He and his wife have a 15-year-old daughter.
Romanello says state officials could help raise the status
of teachers by providing work related to education during the summer that
would pay academic-year wages.
"Teachers usually can't find a job that is remotely
comparable to what they make during the school year," he says. "You
often have to take a 50 percent pay cut."
Romanello makes between $3,000 to $5,000
each summer doing physics research at various universities. He earns
about $50,000 a year at Copper Hills High.
Administrators know pay is an issue they must address, in
no small part because Utah
faces a teacher-shortage crisis.
The state is losing 1,175 teachers a year. At that
rate, school districts will have to fill about 80,000 vacancies in the next
20 years.
Some leave solely due to low pay. Others retire. Women
become mothers. And many simply burn out.
Richard Ingersoll, a University
of Pennsylvania professor who
specializes in teacher-turnover research, says the four primary reasons
teachers leave the classroom are poor compensation, insufficient
administrative support, conflict and strife in schools and lack of employee
influence over school policies. The situation is bad enough that about a
third of new teachers leave the profession within their first three years.
That percentage jumps to almost half within teachers' first five years.
"People complain about teachers all the time,"
Ashton says. "They say we got it good. If they want to run my class and
keep 50 kids under control every day, come on over. Give it a try. It's not
what people think."
Still, like all the teachers interviewed for this story,
he wakes up every day and can't wait to go to work.
"If I didn't enjoy it, I wouldn't do it. I chose
this. It's my profession."
Too many people, however, don't look at teaching as a
profession, says Darlyne Bailey, Dean of Columbia University's Teachers
College in New York.
"There is a myth that any intelligent person can
teach," she says, when in fact teaching requires a unique set of skills.
"Just like doctors, lawyers and social workers, teachers require
professional training."
When people dismiss what's required of teachers, it
devalues the profession. That lack of respect shows up in the lack of
resources - be they books, classroom supplies or appropriate salaries, Bailey
says.
Teachers don't make more because their compensation
packages are out of date, says Rene Islas, a U.S. Department of Education
policy adviser.
To initiate reform, President Bush has called for the
creation of a teacher incentive fund, Islas says. Congressional members will
decide the structure and amount of the fund, which now totals $100 million.
The money would go to teachers who raise student achievement - however state
officials define that.
Linking income to test scores makes some teachers wary.
Take Christine Stephens, 37, who teaches math at Syracuse
Junior High. She is a single mom raising a 12-year-old son. She
teaches summer school for $21 an hour to supplement the $31,000 she earns
during the academic year.
"Students need to do well," Stephens says.
"But our country's leaders don't take into consideration circumstances
at home that have nothing to do with the teacher. They need to understand
what they want and what's realistic for classrooms are two different
things."
Shelli Arthur, who is 36 and single, doesn't have to worry
about meeting yearly student progress mandates required by Bush's education
reform law, No Child Left Behind. She teaches kindergarten, and her students
won't face federal testing for a few years.
Arthur works several summer jobs, but she does it for the
extra income to travel and to keep occupied - not because she has a family to
support. Arthur is unusual within her profession.
The Oak Hills Elementary teacher makes about $38,000 a
year. She works as a concert runner for production companies that bring
performances to Salt Lake City.
That pays about $160 each gig. Arthur picks up five or six a year. She also
sells jewelry, earning commissions between $50 and $300 per party that she
organizes. And, she just started selling Avon
products.
Arthur also works in the summer for some intellectual
stimulation.
"It's nice to have some adult interaction, to find
out what the rest of the world does when I'm in the classroom with the little
guys eight hours a day."
mcronin@sltrib.com
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