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20 hours ago, Football Freak said:

I believe you are hitting the problem right on the head. There are many problems with a lot of schools these days and pay is certainly one of those problems. Most would debate this topic for hours, but of all the coaches I know that LOVED coaching and still left the profession anyway it was due to what seems to be the same issues over and over again...

• PAY ( most assistant coaches that work in a winning program usually work about 70-80 hrs a week during season and probably 55 hrs a week out of season. There is no such thing as having summers off anymore. If your program is successful, most likely your program is getting after it and training during the summer also in order to improve your kids. Most coaches are ok w/ working the long hours, but to do all that, work those kinds of hours all year and still only make $55k-$70k / year...? Some just find that is not worth the time. )
• Weak Administrations/Discipline ( There is a disease going through most schools these days when it comes to administrators cow tailing to griping parents in regards to discipline in the school. I was at my kid's school last semester and I wanted to puke at all the kids just casually walking through the halls cussing like sailors [ MF this, stupid B!&@h that, I don't give a F*#&, etc... just openly not caring 1 bit who heard them. I asked the office personnel why in the world kids were talking like that, and they responded "they always do". I wanted to puke. You also have the teachers constantly pleading with administrators to help FORCE kids to act right in the classroom, stop cussing in the classroom, quit being disrespectful in the classrooms... and they say it just falls on deaf ears. Nothing ever gets done about it.
• Forced Academic Policies ( teacher being forced to allow kids to keep doing work until they pass when the kid absolutely refused to do anything, turn in any work or give any effort academically for entire grading periods/semesters. I am 100% in agreement with doing absolutely everything a person can to help kids. But like when the kids has missed 20 days in a semester, hasn't turned in 1 single assignment in 2 weeks, and when they do show up to class they are disrespectful to teachers; and then when the kid finds out he/she won't graduate with classmates, the parents come up to the school and throw a fit. And the result is the administration just puts the kid into credit recovery classes and do some kind of little computer credit and gets credit for the entire class and passes and graduates. I agree with the teachers - that is complete Bullsh!%...!!!! )
• Completely Idiotic and Unrealistic Parents ( Parents who come to the school and go bezerk on people b/c there is "no way that little Johnny/Suzie did that", you ( the coach/teacher ) are lying and have some sort of horsesh!@ prejudice against their kid. The kid has only been written up or tried to be discipline 15 times already this semester, but "Johnny/Suzie didn't do anything wrong." And then on the sports side of it... Little Johnny/Suzie who is 5'6", 160 lbs, runs like an elephant and jumps like a sloth, catches w/ frying pan hands, and throws like a 6 yr old - "should be going D1 to Alabama..!!!" You ( the coach ) are "just trying to screw my kid over. He was 4x All Star during little league." Stuff like this where parents are completely off the reservation on seeing their kids w/ blinders on.

This new "everybody gets a trophy", "don't hurt anyone's feelings", "we are all the same and we are all equal regardless of talent/skill/work ethic/preparation/desire" is DESTROYING our country and our kids.

Hit the nail on the head. Lots of teachers in my family. 

Also, I might add, the common belief that teachers or coaches are off-work when the kids aren't in school is way off base. The state keeps adding more and more and more paperwork, trainings, etc. There are enough mandatory trainings now that the state apparently expects teachers to also be doctors, lawyers, psychiatrists, etc.  One thing that is difficult to gauge is how long a teacher should work to earn that salary. A lot of administrators don't hold the teachers very accountable, so it would be easy to treat it like a 9 to 5 (or 8 to 4) job. But a good teacher - let alone a good coach - puts in a lot more than that. You would NOT want to pay them hourly. The insurance is bad but, combined with salaries rarely making a real jump (this year was an exception) teachers in this area in particular have no real raise in take-home pay more often than not.

Why does discipline stink? Mommies that don't believe Johnny's crap stinks. Administrators that don't want to deal with mommy. AND..... the state has begun to decide what is an acceptable discipline rate. Not sure now, but at one point they were essentially giving quotas that you can only have a certain number of kids disciplined in in-school-suspension or otherwise. So are you gonna send a kid for screaming obscenities in the hall? Or do you save that spot for a kid that vapes in the bathroom? Or threatens a teacher? Plus some kids are deemed not responsible for their actions due to disabilities and such - regardless of what it does to teachers and students.

Academically - the state is currently judging progress more by whether the kids are graduating than anything. So a kid that doesn't get a diploma means the school failed. Doesn't matter whether Johnny can spell or if Johnny simply refuses to learn how to spell. Standardized testing should prevent that - except they keep adding loopholes around that also. 

Additionally, the politics can be insane. There are very few schools that do anything like merit pay to begin with and the internal politics mean that might be irrelevant anyway. Also goes for discipline. Some kids get hammered for certain things. Other kids walk for the same reason. Sometimes simply because the people in charge like that kid.

So, to recap, beyond low salary (combined with insane insurance hikes), no discipline, low academic standards, expanded school year and out of school time requirements, politics and more. Gee, why might there be a shortage of teachers? The crazy thing is the state talks about being concerned about teacher shortages, yet they are making the job more difficult and unpleasant. A lot of coaches are flocking to the refineries - not because they don't enjoy coaching and the kids, but because the situation is so much better.

Most parents, I believe, are good parents that want the best for their kids and all the kids. I don't think they realize how messed up things are. The bottom of the barrel parents and kids are ruining it for everyone. Things will get better when the good parents realize the corrosion of standards are hurting everyone and they start demanding that their kids be taken more into account than the bad ones.

20 hours ago, Football Freak said:

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