Fingerprinting Subs
Submitted by hill watch dog on Wed, 08/20/2008 - 21:16.
I recived a letter from DISD informing me that all sub. teachers must be finger printed.I am ok with this and think it is a good idea.As I read futher they informed that there would be a $50 charge that the sub. must pay.I think this stinks.Next day I call DISD and am informed all employes must pay $50.This really stinks!!How can a district that losses $50 million ask its people to pay this cost. $50 is full days pay for a lot of support personal.I hope DISD rethinks this decision as it is not fair and will be a large moral breaker. PLease do the right thing!!!
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Teachers should have to pay for the new fingerprinting.
As an out-of-state teacher applicant, I had to pay the $350 to even have my credentials reviewed, plus the one-year teaching certificate. On top of that, I had to pay the $50 for fingerprinting. Honestly, I don't see why the district should have to pay for fingerprinting the teachers who have to get re-fingerprinted when it doesn't pay for fingerprinting new-to-the-district teaching candidates. I've taught in other states, and none of them pay for this service. It's simply just another out-of-pocket expense you can add to the supplies you have to buy for your classroom and students. But I sure do wish the district had planned the new round of fingerprinting better (like in the summer, not in September/October) so that the teachers whose results turned up criminal would have been fired by now. What a mess.
"Non schola sed vita decimos." ~Epictetus
sub finger prints
How many subs can you finger print for 64 million?Maybe they are going to use the $50 from each sub. to make up the deficit.Make each child give a pint of blood.Charge to ride the bus.Its only $64,ooo,ooo!!!
Who benefits?
Forget the obvious benefits of knowing that the sub in your kid's class is not a wanted man, or even who is paying for it, but just how will over 13,000 people get fingerprinted and indexed and checked and reported back on in a timely fashion?
Does the state or the district have an agreement with someone? You can just bet there is someone who going to make a lot of money off of this!
Can we go now to DPD for this? What about those who were fingerprinted years ago when hired? Anybody got answers to all this?
Benefits
The state has a contractor that is going from district to district using a machine that automatically checks the person and submits the data. It also keeps checking so if someone is arrested then it will show up.
No you can't go to DPD as it has to be done through your district.
Doesn't matter, everyone is getting reprinted.
Cost of reprints
Does anyone know the name of this contractor?
This will run head on into DISD's policy of what constitutes a firable arrest/offense. Already, people are told they HAVE to report ANY arrest within 3 days, or get fired when they find out.--even if the offense itself is not a firable thing.
Yet their lawyers tell them NOT to report it, since an arrest is NOT a conviction. Some people will get caught up in this.
Fingerprinting subs
We always seem to lack enough substitute teachers. My friend went to the HR today, reluctantly, to take care of the fingerprinting. After waiting 20 minutes, he was told she was busy and asked to return after lunch.
What did Hinojosa say today, "Fast, friendly, flexible?" It seems they could have told him sooner he would have to return another time.
So much for keeping quality subs.
fingerprinting
We had to watch a video about fingerprinting on the 2nd day of school. The video says the district is paying for all full time employee fingerprinting. Subs who make maybe 90 a day have to pay the 50.
Sounds right
Dallas is paying the freight for fulltimers,(other districts are not.) It is a state thing, not a local, write your state rep. All newbies had to pay it to get their certification.
To keep your lifetime certification current you will need to be finger printed, on your own dime, on your own time.
It sucks, but that is that is way the law reads.
If you are a certified sub with a lifetime cert, you will need to get fingerprinted on your own dime, to keep the credential.
It is a state and not a local issue.
I think a lot of folks missed the boat on what that one that one would mean. But, CHA CHING!!! got to pay to play.
Axe "lifetime certification" please!
"Lifetime certification" is the biggest joke I've ever seen. Texas is the only state that I know of that has this type of credentialing. Now, if all the teachers who obtained it were truly hard-working, progressive educators, then I wouldn't have an issue with it. Unfortunately, I've seen otherwise. Take my school, for instance. I have seen the kind of assignments particular "lifetime certified" teachers give to their students--the originals are stained with the old-school purple ink that ancient ditto-makers leave behind. I'd bet that these particular "teachers" wouldn't be able to pass the ExCET or the TExES on the first attempt. Ugh.
"Non schola sed vita decimos." ~Epictetus
life time certification
I think perhaps you are late on this issue. Lifetime certifications are no longer being offered. All new certified positions expire in 5 years, some may be less. In order to keep your certificate current, you will have to pay a fee, and attend specified amounts of training - it varies.
Perhaps you should look around at other states?
That's good!
I was new to the district and state last year and had heard about lifetime certification from my colleagues. I'm happy that there are renewal fees and required trainings that keep teachers current on and informed about pedagogical methods and content areas.
"Non schola sed vita decimos." ~Epictetus
C Players
Lifetime certification is not the issue.
ExCet tests take the brain of a mosquito to pass, so hopefully someone from out of state (if indeed, you are), doesn't feel a real rush of achievement from passing one, or ten, of them
Allowing professional certification of any kind from those who have a "C" average in content areas they wish to teach is a problem. Another problem is that these folks tend to stick around much longer than those who demonstrated proficiency in content areas in undergraduate and graduate school. The higher the GPA, the better the university, the less likely a person is to stay in teaching.
All that aside, why would anyone choose to teach in a district where organized crime is rampant? From Pcard principals who are still on campuses, to political flunkies in central staff who were also major Pcard offenders, all the way to an executive team that fosters nepotism and carpetbaggers from other school districts, the corruption is so embedded in central staff that the majority of them need to be cut.
Rather than worrying your pretty head about lifetime certification, why not study up on the RICO act and its application to DISD? If you consider yourself such an intellectual, chart the evolution of DISD over the last 35 years in terms of racketeering that could be prosecuted.
Look at Hinjoksa's insistence that teachers be cut immediately while he preserves the handouts to consultants, so that he has a career safety net. Think about all that consultant pay as bribes for future job offers. Figure out why a state senator has made half million a year off working another government job as attorney for DISD.
There isn't six degrees of separation in the corruption in DISD; it's closer to one or two degrees. Why cut teachers and keep the nepotism going on in central staff?
If you are cheerleading Alternative Certification, there are community colleges and universities that have climbed on the bandwagon of AC, so that most of the low-performing schools get their core teachers from those who have never even stood in front of a classroom. If this were a great practice, it's strange the suburbs shun this practice. If people wish to teach by going through this route, they can take advantage of the multitude of institutions offering AC. DISD needs to get out of the business. That department is just another avenue for fiefdom building.
Want staff development? Region X and a multitude of universities offer online classes. There is no need for Collier to build another kingdom in that area.
Need a police force? Ask Kunkle how to intersect with a real police presence
Office of Transformation? What has the University of Pittsburgh been paid in order to change terminology to such crap as "learning communities" instead of areas 1, 2, 3?
Hinojoska would be quite happy to sit on top of all these departments that serve no purpose. He's not really that interested in the classroom. He never even visited Spruce while it was going downhill.
DISD needs to get out from under the deficit incurred while Hinojoksa and Dallas Achieves dug a hole to heck. The majority of 3700 Ross, Nolan Estes, and all the other scattered headquarters could be condensed into a core of 200 people if they knew how to do their jobs.
Eye-opener
Hmm, seems I should have taken friends' advice and taken that job in Garland ISD, eh? I appreciate your very eye-opening and informative post. Yeah, I have to agree with you on the ExCET/TExES tests, although you do have to score at least an 80 to pass them. But definitely I agree that granting certification to teaching candidates who have a "C" average in the content areas they plan/wish to teach is unacceptable, and you're right about these people tending to stick around longer than the proficient individuals. I'd always wondered why teachers from neighboring districts tend to scoff and/or look apprehensively at me when they discover that I teach for DISD. If only the board would do what NEEDS to be done instead of what the top WANTS to be done.
"Non schola sed vita decimos." ~Epictetus
Fingerprinting Charge
You're correct in that this looks like it is tied to State law--which makes the charge easier to swallow.
I didn't like paying the fee to renew my driver's license, but the law said I had to.
What has me concerned is the customer service aspect of the whole thing.
fingerprinting charge
Fingerprinting has already been done at my school. We were surprised that not only were we fingerprinted (all fingers, not just thumbs) we were photographed, we had to fill out paperwork including our 'secure' information, and were asked about our 'skin tone.'
The process was very slow, teachers gave up an entire planning period waiting in line. There was insufficient staffing - there was only 2 machines in my building, one kept going off-line.
One of the teachers' fingerprints didn't 'take,' There was a 'computer error.' She was notified and went back to redo the process. The 'technician' was sitting in a chair, reading a book. She was not allowed to retake the prints. She will have to go to a specified place - later in the year, and retake the prints. Her classes will be left with a substitute teacher. It is not clear if this is an 'approved absence,' or if she will need to use one of her sick days.
What a horrible farce.
Strange
It's so strange that the district has taken this long to finally do this with all of its teachers, not just the ones new to the state/district. I, too, was photographed and had to fill out paperwork giving such information as my "skin tone" when I first moved to Dallas. I had to go to a building on Stemmons Fwy. Didn't really think anything of it--just seemed to be procedure. Why didn't the district simply have everyone, according to learning community or something similar, go to that building in the summer before school started?? I'm baffled and unfortunately not surprised at how inefficiently the district is going about the process. I sure hope your colleague's absence is approved!
"Non schola sed vita decimos." ~Epictetus
fingerprinting
It just seems unfair to pay for some and not pay for all.Subs work just as hard as everyone else for far less pay.It is not an easy job. They are being treated as if they do not count as much as evryone else.It still stinks!!!
prints
Most subs choose not to teach full time. They like the flexibility of subbing. As with all perks, there is a price. This one...$50
That's generous babysitting pay...
I think getting paid $50 a day to babysit a classroom of students is very generous--that's well above minimum wage without even having a college degree. Plus, it's not like they're expected to actually TEACH the students anything since they're not certified teachers. If you have your college degree (B.A./B.S.), you get $75, which is about $9.37-$10.71/hour (depending on the workday) working a rather cushy job (as opposed to working retail or similar). Then again, it's not a steady, reliable source of income unless you're filling in for a teacher on maternity leave.
"Non schola sed vita decimos." ~Epictetus
It is very apparent that you
It is very apparent that you have never subtsituted.I have been cussed out,been threatened with violience,spit on,and disrespcted in other ways.DISD requires a college degree to sub.At the school where I work,they ask me to do all kinds of work,not always in a classroom, which I am glad to do.I go to the ballgames,help at the dances,stay late come in early, just to help out.A good sub. is a vaulable asset to any school.We earn every $ we make in our so called "cushy jobs".Please come and try it and see if you have what it takes!
Actually, I have subbed.
I have subbed, but fortunately I've never had to sub long enough to experience what you have. I'm sorry to hear that you've had such a rough time with it, but I'm glad that you're so involved with the students and their schools despite all the negativity you've encountered. It's unfortunate that substitutes have to endure what are the results of teachers failing to establish respect and order in their classrooms. And actually, I do have what it takes. I'm a full-time teacher at an alternative high school near downtown Dallas.
"Non schola sed vita decimos." ~Epictetus
I will be carefull to never
I will be carefull to never sub. at an alternative HS. near downtown Dallas.This will be ok because you will never need a "baby sitter" for your classes.Good Luck!!!
Not aimed at anyone in particular
I didn't mean to offend you and didn't mean to say that substitutes don't earn their pay. I heard plenty of horror stories when I taught in Chicago about substitutes being assaulted and worse. Don't worry about having to sub at my school--it has a "team" of regular subs who have been subbing there for years. They know the students and teachers very well and thereby avoid the problems you've mentioned.
"Non schola sed vita decimos." ~Epictetus