Legal or illegal to hire me?

[mirukumeow]

I have a bachelor degree, TESL certificate, currently taking ECE first two courses: child development, child growth.

before I apply for the childcare center i am working at, i had 2 years ESL teaching experience oversea in elementary school. My boss told me that she hired me because she believed in my potential but gave me little pay as $10/hr. She hired me as an assistant, yet force me to do a head teacher's work. (of course, she didn't tell me anything about it before hiring me.) And I need to do a lot of janitor's cleaning tasks. She is so bias with asian teacher and Caucasian teacher. She wouldn't ask Caucasian teacher to do any cleaning tasks but ask every asian teacher to do it. If she didn't see us cleaning the materials, she would assume that we had slacked off at school.

Is it legal that she hires me as an assistant but force me to work as a head teacher?

I don't have any break with 8 hours of working straight. Is it legal? She said that children's nap time is our break since we don't need to do anything but to put children fall asleep. She said that children's snack time is also our snack time.

Is it same with you guys'?

[czacza]

How are you 'forced' to do a head teacher's job? I'm assuming you are working 'at will' and could leave anytime for other employment, yet you stay.
What do you consider 'janitor's jobs'? As a classroom teacher, I keep things neatened up, clean up the occasional spill, have kids help with clean up at the end of the day. Yes, we have custodians, but I try not to leave them an enormous mess.
Have you ever asked for a pay raise? $10 per hour is higher than the minimum wage, but not as high as other classroom teachers might make. Yet, again, you took the job. It's a tough economy-we all do what we have to.
If you truly are working as a head teacher, why not ask your employer for a raise? Deliniate for your boss what you have been doing outside of your 'assistant' job description and what contributions you have made to the learning environment at the school. I'd be careful about the comments regarding bias and race. On the other hand, you might want to consider looking for another job- it sounds as if you are miserable where you are now and that is sure to affect the children with whom you work.

[cutNglue]

First you need to know the actual job description of each.

I recently taught a series of workshops for aides and sometimes they were surprised at some of the things that were listed.

As an aide, I did a lot of stuff. I certainly helped clean. I did prep work. I subbed. I taught a small group literacy center. I didn't have breaks. My breaks were snack time (not really because I was still supervising students, setting up, cleaning up, etc.) and my 30 minute lunch (once a week I had lunch duty as well). In a well-oiled classroom, sometimes it is hard to tell who the assistant is and who the teacher is. We work as a team. In the end, the teacher has the most responsibility. Responsibility, however, isn't completely about duties (though they do tend to do more and should) but rather it is about who is responsible for meeting all the legal requirements that are involved in teaching students (that doesn't mean aides don't have some legal responsibilities as well such as doing no harm and following privacy laws).

There are a list of things that teachers do that aides typically do not. I find this is different in different schools. Start with your job descriptions for each job.

Here's something I did with teachers, administrators and aides. I gave them a list of 23 duties. I asked them to check off which ones aides can assist with. The answers from each group that met were varied. One group said that aides can only perform 3 of those duties. Another group said aides can perform 20 of those duties. People assume this job is common sense but the reality is the work place has to be clear on what those duties are. You have a right to ask for clarity. Tread lightly though in how you approach it.

[mirukumeow]

Thank you for all of the clarification that you two provided
I guess I will carry on what I am doing now
Maybe after taking more courses, I will be more clear about the roles and responsibilities of an early childhood educator/assistant
Next time, I will ask for clarity for sure!^___^

[scmom]

I don't know about the regulations in your state, but I don't think you have enough early childhood units to be a head teacher, therefore she can't pay you as such. Most of us do clean-up, etc. As to breaks, what is your state law and practice? She should probably be having someone come in to give you a break - in a small place it might be her and she doesn't want to do it. As to the race issue, we can't say but you may be getting the cleaning and less desirable jobs because you are the last hired or lowest on the totem pole - nothing to do with race.

[Rebel1]

You need to clear your facts b4 you go pulling the RACE CARD! You can get in a lot of trouble, IF she finds out that you are stating on this board that she is a racist. You need to watch yourself about issues like that. On the breaks and lunches, you need to find out IF YOU CAN READ A COPY OF THE EMPLOYEE'S MANUAL. Do they have one @ all? You can always check with the Labor Board about what needs to be done, IF they refuse to provide you with a copy of the Employee's manual. Your school would be in such DEEP TROUBLE if you were in California! CA does not mess around when it comes to watching out for the workers. THAT IS WHEN I CAN TRULY SAY, "CALIFORNIA KNOWS HOW TO PARTY!" It is mandatory that you GET 2 ten minute breaks (in CA) and a lunch afer so many hours @ work.
You need to find all this out for yourself, ASAP.
Good luck,
Rebel1