ICSD has been facing teacher and staff shortages for several years and the problem is continuing into the 2022-2023 school year. IHS is in a unique position because of the variety of classes it offers, ranging from required classes and ENL (English as a New Language) to electives in English, Social Studies, Math, and Science. Our huge support staff includes counselors, a school psychologist, the Special Education department, and the lunch staff now facing the burden of Universal Lunch. These shortages have been hard on everyone, forcing the administration to fall back on a solution commonly referred to as “overage.” In the last two years especially, teachers have retired or moved to surrounding districts, forcing other teachers to pick up extra classes. The amount teachers can be forced to legally work is a delicate negotiation between the teachers’ union and the administration.
To understand overage, one must first understand the way classes are “weighted.” According to the Science Department Head, Arti Jewett, a “regular” full-time schedule is worth 1.0 and typically includes five periods and lunch duty. Each class is an additional 0.2 points, and each lab course is 0.3. An extra 0.1 can be picked up by working in Academic Intervention Services (AIS). Lunch and study hall duty are not extra pay, although they have almost become a universal responsibility for teachers this year. Overage is working anything over a 1.0 schedule. Although a 1.0 schedule is already a full time job, overage has become a reality for teachers all across the school.
The Ithaca Teachers’ Association (ITA) is a part of the larger New York State United Teachers Union (NYSUT). They have an organized website with clear demands, as well as contact information for ITA leaders. Many of the names you’ll see here are familiar—various teachers at the middle and high schools hold positions at the ITA. Unfortunately, even with so many people fighting for the rights of teachers, every year brings new challenges. The Tattler spoke with Adam Piasecki, the ITA president, about the topic of overage. He explained that the ITA hasn’t sat down for negotiations since 2019, since a given contract typically lasts several years. There was already a mention of overage in the existing contract, permitting teachers to take on more than 1.0 FTE (Full-time Equivalent) for extra pay. Each time a teacher retires, all the classes they taught are left open, unless the posting can be filled. Unfortunately, ICSD has blundered its attempts at hiring new teachers to replace the old. As The Tattler has written about before, surrounding districts pay better than our district, so there is no incentive for new teachers to come to IHS to replace beloved retired or resigned teachers. When a new teacher cannot be hired, current teachers take on extra classes to make sure they are covered. For example, if one math teacher retires and previously taught five classes, then five teachers are encouraged to work one class over their usual schedule. Piasecki mentioned that this extra income is appreciated by many, but for others—who didn’t want to take on extra classes—feel obligated in order to support their struggling departments. This problem was most prominent in the Special Education, World Language, and Math departments. I reached out to a member of the Special Education Department, but unfortunately they didn’t respond. That probably says enough about how overworked they are.
Arti Jewett spoke with me about the negotiations she had with the administration. She said there wasn’t pressure placed on her, but some of the hours suggested were “inhumane.” Jewett believes that in an eight period day, teaching four lab courses could have been reasonable, but not in a seven period day. Even if explicit pressure wasn’t placed on Jewett and other science teachers to accept overage, she fears that with this new schedule, this may simply become the reality. The issues were felt less in the Science Department than in other departments—like Math, World Language, and Special Education.
Elizabeth Giblin, the Math Department Head, mentioned that the Math Department is currently short two teachers, and four are working overtime to make up for this. Giblin also explained that the average “cap” (maximum class size) has increased this year. The increase in class size is something students can clearly see; students have said they don’t remember ever being in such crowded classes. Things are definitely worse than usual in the 2022-23 school year—Giblin can’t remember ever needing overages in her eight years in this department. She expressed a similar sentiment as Adam Piasecki and Arti Jewett, when she said, “a teacher cannot be “forced” to take on overage—it is their choice, though it is tricky because teachers know that if they don’t take on the overage, it can leave some students in a tough spot, schedule-wise.” This is a really important point to focus on: teachers feel like they have a responsibility to their students, and sometimes are forced to put aside their own well-being to make sure everyone gets to take the classes they want. If ICSD paid competitive salaries, there wouldn’t be such a huge issue in hiring new and retaining old teachers. Teachers also wouldn’t have as much of a need to take on overage for the extra money if they were already being paid sufficiently. The Tattler has written about this many times before—yet no significant changes seem to have been made. If administrators want ICSD to run properly, they need to pay the people who make it run.