Teachers don’t get nearly enough credit for what they do.
As school days run eight hours a day, five days a week, most weeks a year, they are legitimately raising the next generations of people who will become our scientists; our creators; our leaders.
Teachers in America aren’t paid what they’re worth.
In 2018, Time Magazine released a biopic on what it means to be a teacher in the United States, and one of the teachers who graced the cover works two extra jobs and donates blood plasma to pay her bills .
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That’s just not okay.
One beloved teacher is learning the limitations of her profession the hard way.
The unidentified teacher of Glen Park School in San Francisco is described by parents as “incredible”, “wonderful”, and “one of the best teachers.”
When she was diagnosed with breast cancer, she was forced to take medical leave.
Chemotherapy and radiation are not casual medical procedures—it is important that a person has the appropriate time to rest and heal while undergoing cancer treatment.
The teacher has to pay for her own substitute out of pocket.
In cases of extended sick leave, California law dictates that teachers are allotted 100 days per year, but $195 will be taken out daily from their salary to pay their substitute .
The cost of living in San Francisco is 96.3 percent above the U.S. average , and the unnamed teacher will be making only a portion of her already low salary.
Parents in the community are outraged.
Amanda Kahn Fried told KQED that she can’t believe how “grossly unfair” the situation is.
“Can you imagine telling doctors they have to pay for their replacements? It just doesn’t make sense. That’s not the employee’s responsibility — that’s the employer’s responsibility.”
The community has started a Go Fund Me to help pay for the teacher’s substitute.
The initiative raised more than $13,000 before the Go Fund Me page was taken down, as the extra attention was causing the teacher undue stress.
“I think we can do better.”
A sick bank pool exists in California in which teachers can donate their unused sick days to help those who have run out, but the unidentified teacher missed the deadline to enroll in the program.
Head of the San Francisco teacher’s union Susan Solomon explains that officially, teachers “have nothing in the contract beyond [the sick bank]” to protect them in these kinds of situations.
Other Glen Park teachers are now worried about their own financial responsibilities.
“It makes me worry” says fellow teacher Brenda , “If that were to happen to me, I have to plan accordingly and that’s not fair, you know.”
The money raised on the Go Fund Me page is only just enough to cover a substitute for the remainder of this school year.
