Home Schools, Alternatives, post-pandemic

[temporal1]

And our private school teachers aren’t getting huge salaries like public schools do.

And we can’t afford to pay our teachers not to work for a year either.

I was impressed with the school salary for a married man that I got told about... He makes more [than] I do If only I was decent at grammar I could be a teacher!

Public school salary?
i’m not sure decent grammar is a requirement/deal-breaker. your internet opinions might be. probably would be.

[Szdfan]

And our private school teachers aren’t getting huge salaries like public schools do.

And we can’t afford to pay our teachers not to work for a year either.

I was impressed with the school salary for a married man that I got told about... He makes more [than] I do If only I was decent at grammar I could be a teacher!

Public school salary?
i’m not sure decent grammar is a requirement/deal-breaker. your internet opinions might be. probably would be.

I was recently hired to teach high school in a public school. Do you know how many conversations I've had with the administration about my political and social views? 0.

I've had more conversations about farm animals with my principal than anything remotely political.

[temporal1]

I was impressed with the school salary for a married man that I got told about... He makes more [than] I do If only I was decent at grammar I could be a teacher!

Public school salary?
i’m not sure decent grammar is a requirement/deal-breaker. your internet opinions might be. probably would be.

I was recently hired to teach high school in a public school. Do you know how many conversations I've had with the administration about my political and social views? 0.

I've had more conversations about farm animals with my principal than anything remotely political.

Good. Keep it that way.

[Josh]

I was recently hired to teach high school in a public school. Do you know how many conversations I've had with the administration about my political and social views? 0.

I've had more conversations about farm animals with my principal than anything remotely political.

You live in a super rural area that is not nearly as politicised as the cities. At my last job interview, I was directly asked my political and social views, and it was obvious there were "right" and "wrong" answers.

(The "right" answers would be the political and social views you keep espousing in this forum, FYI)

[Szdfan]

Public school salary?
i’m not sure decent grammar is a requirement/deal-breaker. your internet opinions might be. probably would be.

I was recently hired to teach high school in a public school. Do you know how many conversations I've had with the administration about my political and social views? 0.

I've had more conversations about farm animals with my principal than anything remotely political.

Good. Keep it that way.

I don't think my experience is atypical. Right now, I'm trying to understand the state academic standards for "Reading, Writing and Communicating," none which include "liberal indoctrination." It's seems to me that those most concerned with ideological indoctrination in schools are themselves deeply ideological and their concern isn't that school children are being indoctrinated per se, but rather whether school children are being indoctrinated to their ideology.

[Szdfan]

I was recently hired to teach high school in a public school. Do you know how many conversations I've had with the administration about my political and social views? 0.

I've had more conversations about farm animals with my principal than anything remotely political.

You live in a super rural area that is not nearly as politicised as the cities. At my last job interview, I was directly asked my political and social views, and it was obvious there were "right" and "wrong" answers.

(The "right" answers would be the political and social views you keep espousing in this forum, FYI)

That's of course both illegal and unprofessional. The only time I've been questioned about my personal beliefs is when I've interviewed for pastoral positions, which is an exception under labor law. Most of the time, employers are not legally allowed to ask you political questions in a job interview.

If you get asked political questions in an interview, then that's not a place you want to work.

[Josh]

That's of course both illegal and unprofessional. The only time I've been questioned about my personal beliefs is when I've interviewed for pastoral positions, which is an exception under labor law. Most of the time, employers are not legally allowed to ask you political questions in a job interview.

If you get asked political questions in an interview, then that's not a place you want to work.

Unprofessional? I'd agree. But illegal? There are no laws protecting political viewpoints; someone can definitely make it a test of employment or have a hostile workplace environment for people who have political views they don't approve of.

Of course, these weren't direct political questions, but rather about how willing I am to be in support of various movements. For the sake of argument, let's say I was asked if I could be counted on to fully support their commitment to BLM and to the local Pride festival they're involved in. To me, that's highly political. But some people claim supporting BLM isn't "political".

[Ken]

That's of course both illegal and unprofessional. The only time I've been questioned about my personal beliefs is when I've interviewed for pastoral positions, which is an exception under labor law. Most of the time, employers are not legally allowed to ask you political questions in a job interview.

If you get asked political questions in an interview, then that's not a place you want to work.

Unprofessional? I'd agree. But illegal? There are no laws protecting political viewpoints; someone can definitely make it a test of employment or have a hostile workplace environment for people who have political views they don't approve of.

Of course, these weren't direct political questions, but rather about how willing I am to be in support of various movements. For the sake of argument, let's say I was asked if I could be counted on to fully support their commitment to BLM and to the local Pride festival they're involved in. To me, that's highly political. But some people claim supporting BLM isn't "political".

I've interviewed for probably 2 dozen teaching jobs in TX, WA, and OR over the past 15 years. Politics never once came up in any interview, neither did religion or sexual orientation or anything else like that. Nor have those topics ever come up in any interactions with any administrators during the course of my employment with any district.

Likewise, no questions ever about "how willing I am to support various movements" like BLM or Pride or MAGA or whatever.

When I have been on hiring committees for new teachers we always had a pre-approved script of questions from which we did not vary. Usually questions like "describe your approach to classroom management if you have an unruly student" or "what are your methods for communicating with parents when you have a struggling student" or "how do you augment your teaching to accommodate gifted and talented students who need more challenging material." Stuff like that.

[Szdfan]

That's of course both illegal and unprofessional. The only time I've been questioned about my personal beliefs is when I've interviewed for pastoral positions, which is an exception under labor law. Most of the time, employers are not legally allowed to ask you political questions in a job interview.

If you get asked political questions in an interview, then that's not a place you want to work.

Unprofessional? I'd agree. But illegal? There are no laws protecting political viewpoints; someone can definitely make it a test of employment or have a hostile workplace environment for people who have political views they don't approve of.

Of course, these weren't direct political questions, but rather about how willing I am to be in support of various movements. For the sake of argument, let's say I was asked if I could be counted on to fully support their commitment to BLM and to the local Pride festival they're involved in. To me, that's highly political. But some people claim supporting BLM isn't "political".

I've interviewed for probably 2 dozen teaching jobs in TX, WA, and OR over the past 15 years. Politics never once came up in any interview, neither did religion or sexual orientation or anything else like that. Nor have those topics ever come up in any interactions with any administrators during the course of my employment with any district.

Likewise, no questions ever about "how willing I am to support various movements" like BLM or Pride or MAGA or whatever.

When I have been on hiring committees for new teachers we always had a pre-approved script of questions from which we did not vary. Usually questions like "describe your approach to classroom management if you have an unruly student" or "what are your methods for communicating with parents when you have a struggling student" or "how do you augment your teaching to accommodate gifted and talented students who need more challenging material." Stuff like that.

I double checked...Josh is correct that there is no federal protection for political speech or affiliation when it comes to employees, but some states (like California do have laws that prohibit employers from retaliating against their employees' political beliefs and activities. Federal employers are banned on a federal level from asking about their employees' political affiliation.

Again, if someone asked me these kinds of questions in an interview, it would be a significant red flag for me.

[Szdfan]

Colorado is another state the protects employees' political speech.

https://www.lexology.com/library/detail ... 5fee786f7f

Like many other states, Colorado is a state that prevents an employer from terminating an employee for lawful off-duty activity, which could include political affiliation and activism. As a result, prudent employers should carefully analyze their policies and protocols related to discipline and potential employment terminations in this socially and politically active environment.

The Colorado Lawful Off-Duty Activity Statute, codified at C.R.S. § 24-34-402.5, prohibits employers from taking any adverse employment action against a job applicant or employee as a result of (1) any lawful activity (2) off the premises of the employer (3) during nonworking hours. The statute is sometimes known as the “smokers’ rights law” or “lifestyle discrimination statute” because it was originally enacted to protect employees from being terminated for, as an example, being a smoker. Today, as a result of developing case law, the statute has been extended to a broader range of circumstances, including off-duty marijuana use and politically motivated speech and activities, exposing employers to additional avenues of liability. And in some cases, the statute has even been found applicable where a de minimis part of the disputed activity takes place on the employer’s premises during traditional working hours.