Her lawyer says a New Jersey teacher won't appeal a $22,000 fine for making a four-minute personal call in class.
Attorney Stephen Hunter says Desley Getty acknowledges she made a mistake.
The 120-day salary forfeiture will be based on calendar days and will be deducted from a base salary of about $70,000. A previous story had estimated the penalty at as much as $50,000 based on 120 work days.
This is BS I am all for punishing a person for not doing their job but considering what I saw yesterday when a Democrat Congresswoman has the audacity to talk on the phone while one of her constituents ask a question abuot the healthcare reform bill. I say fine the Congresswoman 120 days pay too.
A base salary of $70,000?
Who said teachers are underpaid?
Check cost of living in that area.
Most of my relatives teach, and they make from $25-$50k depending on education level and experience. However, my family is from the deep south, so cost of living is low.
As for the article, I'm bothered by the dollar amount of the penalty for a four minute call; excessive and extreme.
I agree very extreme for a 4 minute call. If anyone should be in trouble it should be the students dancing not the teacher. Especially since the article said she was filling in for another teacher.
Most of my relatives teach, and they make from $25-$50k depending on education level and experience. However, my family is from the deep south, so cost of living is low.
As for the article, I'm bothered by the dollar amount of the penalty for a four minute call; excessive and extreme.
*Average* teacher pay is around 50k a year. When you add in all teachers. Beginning is around 30k. But considering they also don't work for part of the year...and get Fall Break (2 days in October), Winter Break (2 weeks), Spring Break (1 week) I'm not feeling that bad for them...
They have one of the strongest unions in the country that gets them guarenteed raises annually while not having to meet one performance metric. And they cannot be fired easily even if they suck.
70k in New Jersey...show me the way. I would make that work easily. Get a roomate, Shop at discount food, rent instead of house (though home prices have fallen significantly).
On topic...the penalty is ridiculous. She was subbing for someone else first of all, second she was making a call to another educator (former educator). Go after teachers who aren't showing up, are drunk in class, can't teach their way out of a bag, etc.
this is absolutely crazy
She is the teacher. She should be in charge and teaching. Children are children and that is why they need a teacher who models how they should act. Responsibly.
Most of my time in school was wasted by teachers. Most of them rarely taught. (Maybe they didn't know anything about the subject matter. Now that I have educated myself somewhat and look back at the things that were done and said during school I believe that they didn't know what to teach or how to teach.
US has a crisis in education. Our teachers are not producing highly educated people. I heard the president of the teachers group say that even though he knew a fellow teacher was incompetent, the president would not allow administration to replace the incompetent because 'next week it would be someone else that administration was out to get rid of.'
It is a serious problem when the biggest budget in most states is education and teachers are wasting the time of children for most of 22+ years of their lives.
We need accountability of teachers and this should make a point clear to other teachers in that district.
Teachers basically have no supervisors. Many professors don't teach either because they have no supervisors. There has to be some incentive for teachers to teach in the classroom. At least this punishment is incentive to keep off the phone. Maybe a fine is paid willingly to keep from revealing other information.
Wow, that's just insane. Way too extreme!
Agreed. Seems arbitrary, too. How did they arrive at that figure as a reasonable penalty????
If anyone should be in trouble it should be the students dancing not the teacher.
Not sure about that one. She is a preforming arts teacher based on the article and it could have been part of the class. It's possible one student was filming the dance for a variety of reasons and she was just caught on tape.
Was it an emergency? Was it a call that wasn't easily avoidable? Regardless of whatever the reason for the phone call, a 120 forteiture seems extreme, and I can't even imagine something like that would be in their contracts. Or someone agreeing to it.
True about the performing art thing good point. Still the fact of the matter is we both agree it was extreme. Maybe a reprimand if this was the teachers first offense. That said she might have been a repeat offender.
That said she might have been a repeat offender.
If that is the case then fire her. 22K for a phone call is ludicrous. What good is the union? If I was her I would never pay that. I would take that to court for sure.
Me too, I was just giving the school the benefit of the doubt. And definitely feel it is an outrageous amount. I would also take it to court there is no way that would pass. And you rasi another good question where is the union?
I too, think that the penalty is way out of line. And she was calling someone in the education field so it could be argued that it was not a personal call.
What they are really penalizing her for is getting the situation put on YouTube and making the school look bad. She should have gotten the students of the desktops!
-- Minnie
Agreed Minnie, the students imho are half the problem. Had they not acted fools especially since they where in a secondary school and more mature than children in the elementary level. Good comment.
WOW! This is almost a 911 call. Way overdone. School went out of way to save face. Of course we don't know all the facts. Might not have been first time if they were filming.
Was the problem the call or who she called??? 22 Grand is way out of line I don't care what anyone says, a days pay and dressing down is more in line even then a warning is more like it..
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