Jonathan Dearman was known as a terrific teacher at San Francisco's Leadership High School. That's according to the students, staff, parents and administration at the the seven year old charter. When other teachers could barely get the kids going, Mr. Dearman inspired the students to do the impossible.
Mr. Dearman no longer teaches!!
Why you ask? He couldn't make ends meet, he was away from the family for too long and - believe it or not - he wasn't as effective as he wanted to be. Imagine that from a top flight educator.
One can say that teachers are paid about right, they receive what they deserve (given the mythical statement that 'they have summers off') or something of that nature. The fact of the matter is this...the 3,000,000 teachers in the United States make an average of $44,367 per year. No, that's not a starting salary, that's the average.
Do you suppose that the average lawyer, doctor, or government official has $44,367 as their 'average' pay?
Here's the deal. It isn't just that the average pay is $44,367 it's the fact that the great teachers like Mr. Dearman work 60 plus hours per week, deal with all sorts of kids with social/emotional needs literally every moment of the day and find that the demands of the profession are growing by the second.
Let me say this, school reform, in part, may want to tie a teachers pay to test scores but there are bigger issues that need to be tackled such as keeping great teachers like Mr. Dearman.
Dick
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