Wednesday, June 09, 2021

Kim Frencken: Well deserved break

Finally! Summer is here. No summer school for me. Just endless days of bliss. No alarm to disturb my dreams. No schedule to steal my time. Just summer days. 

We enjoy our time and the opportunity to spend time with family and friends. We bask in the support of people in our communities near and far.

What?! Everyone understands summer time for teachers? Not hardly. 








 Many make snippy comments fueled by jealously about the infamous summer break. What they fail to understand is that teacher's EARN a summer break. We are not paid for our time off. We use this time to rest, rejuvenate, possibly teach summer classes, or take summer classes to improve our teaching skills. We work extended hours nine months (or longer) of the year in order to enjoy a summer break where we can squeeze in all the things that we've ignored for the school year.

This phenomena has been in existence for at least 100 years. I have come to believe that there will always be people who grumble about the famed 3 months off with pay (another misnomer- we divide our nine month pay by twelve months so we'll receive a paycheck during the summer months. Yes, we know that this makes our pay checks smaller, but it also means that we don't go without a paycheck during the summer months).

I think there will always be someone, from the outside, that pretends to understand the world of education. These self- appointed "experts" will never understand our world. They will complain about summers off and our retirement programs out of one side of their mouths while the other side demands that we do more for their child. You can't make these people happy. You can't make them understand. 

My solution. Be me. Enjoy my time. Ignore the naysayers and make the most of the sunshine. I hope you do the same! Fall will be here soon enough!

 

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