After the Senate bill was approved and the news media got it published, the reactions in Social Media were absurd and hilarious.
I picked the reactions of people from a couple of local TV stations in their Facebook page:
The lack of information about the bill is amazing. Of course, this is by design mostly by Gun Control and the Media laps it and regurgitates it to the uninformed idiots.
You maybe have noticed in my updates that I used the expression “volunteer teachers” when talking about this bill. Again, I do believe it has been done by design that the information put out there seem to “suggest” teachers would be forced to carry. which is a lie. This sentiment is repeated over and over, almost being the top selection.
Always with the poor teacher badly paid. It has nothing to do with keeping schools safe and the teachers that volunteer will have their training paid so this is just bitching for bitching’s sake.
Again, total ignorance on what’s in the bill and the steps a volunteer teacher would have to take in order to become a Guardian.
But I saved the best for last:
Teachers are mental cases. And that is not only the “informed” opinion of parents but also fellow teachers. All this brings a question: How in the name of God are we letting kids in the hands of people we all “know” to be mentally unstable? If they are that bad, they can snap, ignore the law and bring their gun to class, lock the door and start popping kindergarteners anyway.
But it is easier to crap on teachers for political purposes. The sad part, teachers that are so insulted remain silent so I have to believe they are cowards for not standing up and tell these idiots to shut the hell up, or they are truly sick in the head.
These are the same arguments that popped up when Homeland Security proposed arming pilots of commercial airliners as a last ditch defense against hijacking. Pilots were crazy and could snap, and would start shooting at any time. Totally ignoring the fact that they were in control of an airliner with hundreds of people on board at 30,000 ft. Not that hard to kill everybody if one really wanted to.
Indeed. And it actually has happened. ONCE.
I want to pick a fight with Vanessa James.
The average teacher’s salary in Florida is $48K and it’s $51K in wealthier counties like Dade and Broward.
The average salary with someone with a bachelor’s degree, including engineering, medicine, and finance, is $58K.
It seems that teachers in Florida make a living wage.
Especially if you consider that $48K is equal to $24/hr full time (2,000 hr/yr) while teachers get summers off.
The “we don’t pay them a living wage” is just bullshit. It’s a meaningless talking point.
“Living wage” is like “fair share of taxes”. It’s a forever moving target. Nobody can settle on what exacty that means and stick to it.
As a teacher, I want to say that what you posted is a bit incorrect. I don’t know where you got the “average teacher” salary from. In the county where I work, a teacher with a 4 year degree and 20 years’ experience makes $48,250. For a teacher with 10 years on the job, the pay is $43,050.
The ‘summers off’ isn’t as big of a deal as you think. During the summer, which only lasts 8 weeks, we are required to attend meetings and training for most of it. Just because we are not in the classroom doesn’t mean that we are not working. For example, last summer I was forced to complete 120 hours of (illegal) immigrant sensitivity training, and this summer I will have to attend a 60 hour course on students with disabilities, as well as training on the new textbooks my course is switching to next year.
Couple that with the fact that many employers in the area are now upping their starting wage to $15, or even $17 an hour, many teachers are leaving. A friend of mine who was teaching left to drive a bus at Disney, where he received a $7,000 a year raise. Cheney brothers had a booth at a job fair held at my school recently, and were offering $35K to recent high school grads to deliver food to restaurants. Bonefish grill pays $17 an hour to the host/hostess position.
Since parents are unable or unwilling to do so, I supply my students with pens, pencils, paper, and calculators. I also have to pay for and supply my own teaching materials. Every time we buy a new textbook or I am asked to teach a different course, I have to pay for the teaching materials like power points and worksheets, or I must spend hours every week (outside of working hours) making them myself. The last time I had to do so, a CD with the power points, worksheets, and quizzes for my course cost me $168. Last year, I spent $250 on ten scientific calculators to lend students in my physics course. By the end of the year, 6 of them were lost or broken.
Do nurses have to buy the medicine for their patients? Do auto mechanics have to supply the parts for their customers’ cars?
This is why college enrollments into teaching programs is down. I wouldn’t phrase it as “schools don’t pay a living wage,” but you would be hard pressed to call it a competitive wage.
Average FL salary with county map, may 2018:
https://www.wtsp.com/article/news/interactive-map-average-florida-teacher-salaries-by-county/67-550085016
My mother in law is a teacher in Indiana. My wife was a teacher in Indiana and South Dakota. Both had between six and eight weeks during the summer where they did not have to be anywhere on campus at all. They both had training before the school year and over some holidays but neither had anything close to full time teaching employment over the summer.
Find me another form of full time employment that has at least four weeks straight of time off during the summer.
I never said it wasn’t uncompetitive, but it is certainly a living wage.
Lastly, stop buying supplies for students that are not reimbursed. I’m tired of that and I told my wife not to do it. When you cover school expenses out of pocket you let the bureaucrats off the hook. You are only facilitating the bureaucracy. Don’t spend a penny more than required on school supplies and tell the parents to tell the school board to pay for supplies instead of education junkets.
I picked a few counties at random. Nowhere near what that chart lists, unless the average teacher has more than 14 years on the job.
Lake county
https://www.lake.k12.fl.us/cms/lib/FL01000799/Centricity/Domain/29/Salary%20Schedules/1819%20Instr%20Salary%20Placement.pdf
Pay for Osceola is in their union contract on page 93. Top pay for a teacher with a bachelor’s is $42k.
https://www.osceolaschools.net/common/pages/DisplayFile.aspx?itemId=69994890
Florida is different than teaching in many other states. We have annual contracts where teachers must reapply for their jobs every year. The districts use that to their advantage. During the school year, we are forced to do things “off the clock.” Extra duties include attending awards ceremonies, working concessions at sports events, attending graduation, and attending classes on our own time. As I said, every teacher in the state has to attend a 120 hour class on sensitivity to illegal alien students. That was in addition to our regular in service training. Same goes for the 60 hour special needs training.
If you want summers off, then you have to find a way to take those classes at night or on weekends during the school year. Either way, we spend FAR more hours working than what people think. I used to think that teachers had it easy. When I retired I thought it would be a cake job. Not anymore. I am appalled at what is expected for that level of pay.
The local Regressive MSM circus is in full pearl-clutching mode. You should hear some of the b.s. the local 3-letter affiliate “news” stations are blathering about.
LOL!
My question is: Where is the NEA and its state-level counterpart in all this?
Shouldn’t the teachers’ unions be active on social media, in force, defending their members against these baseless claims of poor mental health?
It’s actually kind of funny, the corner the unions have painted themselves into. Defend your members’ mental health and tacitly admit they are competent to carry firearms and by law should be allowed to, or continue to advocate against guns and tacitly admit that you think your members are mentally incompetent and shouldn’t be teaching. There really isn’t a third option without a complete change in direction, one way or the other.
The union (which I am not a part of) is remaining largely silent on this. The only mention of guns was in an email from March:
“LEGISLATURE is continuing its efforts to keep teachers from teaching. Guns, Charter School issues and continued bonus schemes seem to be the priorities. “
Heh, mental health counseling and teachers.
Well… It is the teacher’s own unions that have ferociously fought any sort of mandatory testing or counseling in regards to standards of the teachers and mental health screenings…
It is the teachers’ own unions that have fought for the very sort of policies that allowed the stupidity of the Parkland shooter (especially the 3 years leading up to The Day) to occur.
Please. Please force teachers to be mentally certified as sane before subjecting our children to their insanity.
I know, dare to dream….
Your definition of a coward and mine differ quite a bit. Why do I care that some random strangers think all teachers are horrible people? If you are a pro-2A teacher, literally 98+% of the internet hates you on that basis alone. Ain’t nobody got time for that!
As was briefly mentioned by Miguel, any teacher could bring a gun to school any time and shoot students if so inclined. I wouldn’t doubt that some teachers are bringing guns to school now to protect themselves and their students against another shooter attack. I know I would, in their position.
As far as cost, a decent 9mm handgun and a box of ammo can be had in the $300 range, and I’m sure many competent instructors would be happy to spend several hours with a small group to train them. In fact, there are probably many teachers who are also gun enthusiasts with carry permits, that would be quite knowledgeable in gun safety and be willing to use a gun of their own that they like and are familiar with.
Looking back at the school shootings, think how many lives could have been saved if a few of the teachers or administrators had been armed. Any parent or teacher that is against this is endangering themselves and the students just because they don’t understand or trust sensible gun handling.