SD's experienced teachers encouraged to retire

[Guest guest]

I suppose they figure kids don't care about school anyway, so why keep good

teachers on the payroll.

Having trained to be a teacher, I will say that what they save in money, they

lose in skill. New teachers that start with low pay may save money, but the

training they get in college is NOT sufficient to get them through the first few

years of teaching.

If becoming a teacher were like whittling, college carves out the general shape,

and experience is what finishes the carving with the fine details.

Administrator

http://www.mercurynews.com/news/ci_11831138

SD's experienced teachers encouraged to retire

The Associated Press

Posted: 03/03/2009 10:07:32 PM PST

SAN DIEGO—The San Diego school board has approved a plan to encourage the

district's most experienced teachers to retire early to save the district

millions of dollars and avoid layoffs.

The plan negotiated by the teachers' union includes retirement incentives and

was approved by the school board Tuesday.

School officials say the plan could save the district more than $7.6 million in

the next few years.

On average, about 250 teachers retire per year. The plan would need 633 teachers

to volunteer for early retirement.

The district faces a $77 million deficit in next year's budget.

The district has already committed to $45.3 million in cuts through hiring and

spending freezes and consolidating school bus routes.

[Guest guest]

This is always the case in any venue. You might save money in one way by firing the more expensive experienced people, but you will lose more in terms of quality of product. NASA learned this the hard way when they fired so many senior engineers with decades of experience. The result was that a number of mission during the Clinton years failed because of silly errors and mistakes a more seasoned staff probably would have caught or known how to deal with.

Sounds to me like a call for more charter schools. The good teachers would surely be snapped up, even if they didn't get paid as much as they did in public schools. They would get a better cut of student and would have more discipline in the classroom, probably even being able to get rid of the worst students. That's not a bad idea really: let the best students go to the private system and the troublemakers can stay on the government dime. Very symbolic actually.

In a message dated 3/4/2009 2:41:44 A.M. Eastern Standard Time, no_reply writes:

Having trained to be a teacher, I will say that what they save in money, they lose in skill. New teachers that start with low pay may save money, but the training they get in college is NOT sufficient to get them through the first few years of teaching. If becoming a teacher were like whittling, college carves out the general shape, and experience is what finishes the carving with the fine details.Administrator Need a job? Find employment help in your area.