Hmmm... I guess it doesn't impact my job in a major way. It does in a minor sense, like I have to manage and direct her students to the right space in the gym because she isn't there to do it herself. But that's certainly not a major inconvenience, and it doesn't prevent me from doing the same with my own students in any major sense. So, no, it's not severe enough that I feel I need to tell somebody. I think it would only make me look bad by tattling. I guess it matters to me because I'm frustrated with the fact that I have to cut out things from my morning routine, things that I would like to do but know that I don't have time to do, in order to be in that room on time. It's frustrating that she can get away with it so frequently simply because the administrators aren't there to see it (they won't deal with it because they don't know it's happening) and she knows that everyone else will supervise her students for her because it really isn't a big deal to do so. I make a concerted effort to be there on time because it's my job to do so. If it's so easy to get away with, maybe the rest of us should start being late, too... but then what happens? Then no one would be in the room to supervise the kids. I have no problem with someone being late on a rare occasion, nor do I have a problem with someone being there on time but asking a colleague to supervise the students while that person goes to run an errand or use the restroom. I do have a problem with the same person being habitually and intentionally late because she is taking advantage of her colleagues' goodwill and her administrators' lack of presence.
Sure, but there is a difference between an agreed-upon time considerable reasonable for me to show up at school and the addition of little silly things that add up saying that "if I were professional and cared about the students, I would go the extra mile and be punished if I don't."
Haha. I get it now. No, we're just saying it's difficult with parents of daycare-aged kids to get to school significantly early.
I think the confusion was that, on the first read, I interpreted "early" to mean "time of day - as in the very early morning hours (but not before contracted time)". Upon a second read, I realize that you meant "early" as in "before contracted time". Sorry for the misunderstanding.
Oh, you're fine. I have a time frame, a time I must be out the door to confidently make it to school at contract time. The days my husband works from home (and the girls don't go to daycare) he fails to understand my joy at leaving the house early. It's a luxury to get to school with hardly a car in the parking lot and... get classwork stuff done.
We do not have to sign in but our door badges sign us in. And our principal looks at the TIME we've "clocked" in. If we are tardy for 5 or more times we get a notice in our box. So big brother.
The admin in the building is responsible for monitoring everything you wrote about. If that's how they have deemed to do their monitoring, (presuming that is what it's for), it's their prerogative.
Irritation of a surgical site would mean a wound that could potentially open, exposing you to infection. I don't know any admin who wouldn't consider that something warranting an accommodation. ADA is simply something made to accomodate the disabled. You would be covered.
Does your school require you to be there the exact same time as kids? If so, it would be unreasonable to sign in. If you are required to be there 5 minutes before, it is not.
signed in each day for decades. My buddy said his old principal brought the sign in sheet to his desk after 7:30 (the time they had to be there). Cured lots of tardiness
Because it's unprofessional and it would bother me too. Not so much that I want them to get hit by a car, but enough that I'd worry about them speeding through the lot and hitting a kid. Still, we all know there'd be hell to pay for ratting that unprofessional teacher out.
The more I'm reading, the more I'm thinking that a physical sign-in sheet could be swapped out for a simple email to administration. It's time-stamped, shows the teacher is using a school connection and not simply signing in from home (provided nobody has tried installing a VPN), and provides a copy for the sender as well as the receiver. That way, EVERYONE has an electronic paper trail and nobody has to schlep to the office, leaving a classroom locked or unattended. As someone who used to teach online, I know my logins were automatically recorded and clearly showed if I was working using a school ethernet or VPN. It wouldn't be that difficult to use in an in-person setting. All the accountability, none of the indignity.
Nah. A wound can be completely closed and still cause irritation, especially if there are internal sutures or nerve damage or weird weather. Speaking from experience here as someone who still experiences surgical site discomfort and occasional pain, my incision is in zero danger of reopening.
I think that an email may be marginally better but still not great. What admin wants to field 150 emails every single morning? I don't mind the idea of checking my computer sign-in time (we have accounts that only work on district servers, so you can't use them outside of school) or a badge that I could swipe as I enter the building. Neither method is intrusive or inconvenient.
We use Google accounts in my district, so there is no way to know where an email is sent from. I think the best method, assuming it was financially feasible, would be to have badges that are swiped upon entering the building. To be clear, I mean badges that are swiped at the door. Not badges that have to be swiped in the school office (I've worked in a school where we had to do this, as well as writing our "clock-in" time on a log next to the badge machine.).
*shrugs* That's a choice you are making. You've weighed the outcome of tattling on your colleague with the potential ramifications of being a tattler and you've decided that it's best to not tattle. Admin also makes a choice. Is it worth it to them to have the hassle and potential hit to staff morale to have a sign-in sheet just to catch a few naughty teachers or is it not? At my school, where there is no sign-in, the answer is clear. My admin seems to value staff morale and productivity (particularly when it comes to the office staff and administrators who would be responsible for printing, monitoring, and filing sign-in sheets). This works for me, and it's one reason of many that I continue to remain at my particular school.
I don't disagree. Despite the frustrations I have with my colleague's lack of professionalism, I'm pleased that we don't have a sign-in system of any kind. My only reason for bringing this up was to show that sign-in systems can serve a purpose because, sometimes, admin aren't aware that a tardiness issue even exists without such a system in place. Yes, they should deal with those issues on an individual basis rather than impacting the entire staff, but they can only deal with it when they know about it.
Here's my stance on the tardiness issue... I have a teammate who is consistently right on time. If there was a sign-in sheet, she would probably usually sign in late, since she walks in as contract time begins. There have been plenty of occasions where she's been a little late. But... I'd never for one instant consider "tattling" to administration about it. Why? Because it doesn't affect her job performance. Our contract time begins 15 minutes before kids arrive, and her room is always set up before she leaves at night. Even if she did get to her classroom right as the first kid arrived, her day would go perfectly fine. Nothing would get accomplished by me going to admin, nothing would be accomplished by admin giving her a "handslap."
Upon further reflection, I think the issue I have with my colleague is a matter of respect - or lack there of. She just assumes that it's okay for her to be late because she assumes that the rest of us will be on time (and our contracted time starts at the same time as kids start arriving). She knows she can be late because we'll be there. If she had to worry that we might not be there to watch her kids, then she'd make sure she was on time to watch them (she's alluded to that with certain statements). I feel as if my professionalism and kindness is being taken advantage of. I wouldn't dare tattle on her, but her tardiness does impact me to a very minimal extent, and I just find it disrespectful to the rest of us, as well as unprofessional.
Unless you work for someone who is just itching (not at their surgical site), they would make this reasonable modification. There are teachers who swing window air conditioners through ADA because they are overweight and would sweat excessively.
I misunderstood this. Then they would be hard pressed to make you sign in. I don't get the impression this is the case with the OP.
Is there any feasible way to subtly move your position in the gym when you pick your kiddos up, so that you wouldn't be able to watch her kids?
Agreed, the sign in would become merely an exercise for everyone at that point. They'd have to setup an attendance only email account just to handle the volume.
Signing a sheet of paper hasn't hurt our school culture. I find the idea mind boggling to be honest but we are all different. Like I'm a boy so I don't say tattle.
Not really. The entire school goes in there (about 22 classes). We're assigned locations by admin, and we are assigned in a block with the rest of our grade-level. Even if I didn't watch her class, another teacher would. Except for her and a few others who run late (whether intentionally or due to an exceptional circumstance), all of the teachers are in there. The admin and support staff are out in hallways and at the entrances to monitor students as they enter the building. It's actually not as big of a deal anymore, because now we only go to the gym one day per week. We used to go every day. She can make it on time on the days that the kids go straight to the classroom. It's only on the days that she knows other teachers will be in the gym to watch her class that she's late (which only makes it more obvious that this is intentional).
She's stealing those darn 15 minutes you guys were talking about. That's like 4 million minutes per decade of lost productivity time. She could be patching drywall, making coffee, or child proofing the lockers. Those end units have crazy edges!
This is not quite the case for me, however, I almost always have kids in my room for extra help in the morning before school starts so they will just have wait for me to sign in before I can assist them.
In your shoes, I would be more annoyed about being required to go the gym to get my class in the first place. I may have missed it in a previous post, but what purpose does having the whole school in the gym serve?
If you weren't one of the people talking about the lost seconds of productivity, this didn't apply to you. If you were, mic drop.
I think this has more to do with grade level. Some of the best schools in the country meet like this every morning. It's part of the school culture you are so worried about harming.
I would wait to use the restroom (and if I couldn't, the restroom is right across from my door, not on the other side of the building), and my student makes all of my copies for me the day before so neither of those are an issue.
Having to sign a sheet of paper isn't the only thing that would affect school culture. Failing to be a community of learners seems like it would be a bigger piece of the school culture pie than a piece of paper.
For you specifically not a burden. Maybe we could post the sign in sheet in the bathroom so people could multitask. Though I'd bring my own pen if I were you.
It really shows how out of touch some teachers are when a sign in sheet thread goes 12 pages deep. There is a direct correlation between what people think of teachers and the kinds of complaints people are making here.
I never made any comment about school culture. And not to get too far off track, but I think there are other ways to be a "community of learners" that don't involve the whole school crowding in the gym. Yes, I know you know of wonderful schools that do this.