Laid Off Teachers Are Taxed On Their Unemployment!!!

You better believe it... As unfair as it seems, laid off teachers are taxed on the little money received on their unemployment claims! While the State of California doesn't charge taxes on unemployment benefits, our Federal Government wants us to return a percentage of our unemployment earnings to them, even though their lack of funding to the States is the reason so many of us have been laid off!

Money, Money, Money, Money!

Here you see yet another example of a popular slogan among educators in the teaching profession: While our federal government imposes "No Child Left Behind", many educators rather choose to believe, "No Teacher Gets Ahead!"  

Another Year With No Teaching Job!!!

Summer is upon us and another school year is coming to a close. Here in sunny Southern California, Kindergarten teachers and students are excitedly preparing for their commencement programs. Sadly, June is like any other month to me in a life without students. Once again, there will be NO Kindergarten Musical for me to direct, NO children to hug, and NO parents to thank!  Needless to say, it is a very sad time for me!  :(

"I Will Try To Have Fun In The Sun"

I can't understand why Long Beach Unified School District is not rehiring their teachers after all the time and energy we invested into the futures of their youth? After all, Proposition 30 was successfully passed last November with the expectation of adding billions of dollars to public school education. Yet, even more teachers were laid off for the third year in a row. Where has our money gone? 

Apparently, new technology and better buildings have taken precedence over teachers. The greatest leaders of this nation, including our Founding Fathers and over half of our U.S. Presidents, were taught in one room schoolhouses. Technology will never replace the compassion and enthusiasm of a teacher who delights in helping to mold young minds!

Allow Me To Introduce Myself

BECAUSE YOU ASKED!

If you would like to view my resume, teaching credentials, photos of my former classrooms,  etc, please visit www.lindagant.com.

Please choose from the 2012 BLOG ARCHIVE selections to your right, to read my posts on living & teaching on Catalina Island, my thoughts on No Child Left Behind, as well as the challenges faced by teachers who teach in remote locations.  You may also use your browser's Scroll Bar to the far right to scroll down through my previous posts. Enjoy and I would love to hear your comments after these posts!

MY TEACHING PHILOSOPHY

Every child has the potential to learn and the educator, in partnership with the parent, makes learning happen.  Young children enter school, curious about the world around them.  They are like sponges, absorbing every word their teacher says.

Kindergarten Back To School Night

As an educator, I teach my grade level standards and use supportive District curriculum.  Assessments are the measures of knowing if my students have learned a standard.  Review solidifies concepts previously-learned, and it is important to re-teach concepts not understood.

My classroom environment has always been attractive, organized, and child-centered, so my students feel at home.  After all, it is their second home!  For learning to occur, good classroom management is of utmost importance.  I use praise as one motivator towards maintaining positive classroom discipline and provide various individual and group incentives, so my students want to be “Caught Being Good!”  Click HERE to visit my former Kindergarten classroom at Avalon School on Catalina Island.

Ready For Kindergarten Open House
Click On Photo Above To Display Larger Image

Parent involvement is the key to academic success, and open communication between the teacher and parent is of the utmost importance.  I encourage parents to participate in my classroom and keep them informed through weekly written notices in both English and Spanish.  Spanish as a second language has been a valuable asset for me, bridging the gap between school and home.  Recently, the Bring-Me-A-Book Foundation recognized Avalon as a "socially-disadvantaged" community, with much-needed attention given to the high percentage of low-income immigrant families living here.  Bring-Me-A-Book donated $7,500 in books, rolling bookcases, and parental training to our Kindergarten students and it was an honor to host this in my classroom!

As seen by my work experience over the past 21 years, I am particularly fond of teaching the Kindergarten and First Grade levels, and it has been so rewarding to see these young children begin to read and write in complete sentences!  Due to my ability to speak, read, and write the Spanish language, my teaching experiences in these lower grade levels has extended to second language learners.  This is an area of teaching, which I am very passionate about and enjoy very much.

Little Ones Need A Good Classroom Environment
Click On Photo Above To Display Larger Image

I currently hold a Clear California Multiple Subject Credential with a Spanish Supplemental Authorization, CLAD, BCLAD, and a Master’s Degree in Education with a Master’s Thesis focus on ELL students, and 21 continuous years of teaching experience.

My complete resume, copies of my California Teaching Credentials, and supporting documentation may be found on my website listed below.  Thank you very much for considering me for an elementary teaching opportunity in your School District.

This massive teacher lay-off in California has been a devastating and depressing time for all of us, and I look forward to "getting back into the game," as I can't even conceive of doing anything else!

Linda Gant
Long Beach, California
www.lindagant.com

Laid Off On An Island!

In July of 2005, I transferred school districts to continue my 15 year teaching career on Santa Catalina, a remote Island 26 miles off the coast of Southern California. I was told they "needed me", a veteran teacher with a new Master's Degree in Education, and fluent in the Spanish language, because 75% of the Catalina Island community speak Spanish as their home language.

Little did I know I would be "laid off" after only 5 years serving the parents and students of this Island community, because I had "only 5 years seniority" in the Long Beach Unified School District!

I Miss The Hugs & Kisses From My Island Kids!

Perhaps it is a good thing that I didn't know this in advance, or I may not have left my "secure tenured position" in the nicest school in the Santa Ana Unified School District? Yet, if I had not left, I would never have had the opportunity to teach the Island youth, whom I have grown to love. 

Linda

Teaching On A Remote Island 1

Unlike those who mistakenly think you can "drive across a bridge" to get to Santa Catalina Island, the only way to travel to this remote community named "Avalon" is to take a one hour fifteen minute boat ride on the Catalina Express. Sometimes you are fortunate and the ride is smooth, but most of the time during the "school year", the swells are high and if you are not accustomed to boating, you are the perfect candidate for sea sickness. 

Now, this does not include the days when the wind is blowing so hard the Catalina Express doesn't run and you aren't able to travel to and from the Island. On such days, if a teacher is absent, the staff at Avalon Schools have to pull from their small list of Island substitute teachers or disperse their students into other classrooms. With only two teachers per classroom, this usually means an Avalon teacher is bound to have extra students from another grade level in his/her classroom for the day.

Winter Means 75-Minute Bumpy Rides In Rough Seas

Transportation is one of the reasons why most Catalina Island teachers choose to live on the Island rather than the Mainland, but in doing so they are making a sacrifice. Those who live there understand there are no malls or shopping centers on the Island; no theme parks or bowling alleys for entertainment; no doctors or hospitals to treat emergencies; and you are not allowed to have a "real vehicle" on the Island unless you have been on the "waiting list" for one literally since the day you were born.

Avalon Traffic Jam On The Way To School

Nevertheless, the students and parents who live on this remote Island are thankful for their one very small Vons Market; a U.S. Post Office with tiny turn-of-the-century brass P.O. Boxes; a Casino Movie Theater where "outdated movies" are shown only on the weekends; and the ability to travel around the 3/4 square mile community in golf carts, if they can afford to purchase them.

Teaching On A Remote Island 2

Perhaps you are wondering how our household and teaching supplies arrive on the Island? Well, they do not come on the Catalina Express, unless we lug them over in suitcases as we travel to and fro the Island. It takes careful planning on our part to get our much needed supplies as they are transported either by a tugboat and barge or flown across the ocean via the US Postal Service, United Parcel Service, and FedEx in a World War II era DC-3 cargo plane (owned by Catalina Flying Boats) that flies into our Island's "Airport In The Sky" on top of a hill.

Mail & UPS Packages Are Delivered Only In Nice Weather

The most common way to bring our "goods" across from the Mainland ("Overtown" for Islanders) is by barge. However, the barge can cost a "pretty penny" as all items are weighed and we are charged by the pound as well as an additional fuel surcharge (with Island gas currently up to $8.00 per gallon.) Either way, it is very expensive to purchase what most people take for granted.

Leaving For Overtown Shopping

This doesn't even take into account the "drama" we have to go through to get our supplies in the first place. It will cost us a $50.00 round trip ticket on the Catalina Express and after reaching the Mainland, we either walk to the parking garage where we keep our "real car" (averaging from $70.00-$85.00 per month for rent) or rent a car for the day at the Catalina Express Terminal.

Thus begins our quest for those necessary supplies. While driving all over looking for them, we are always mindful of our Catalina Express schedule, as we know it takes time to drive them to the barge in Wilmington before our return trip to the Island. Only by careful planning is it possible to arrive in Long Beach at 9:30 A.M. and have everything done by the time the last boat leaves for the Island at 5:45 P.M. Alas, if we don't make it back on time, we are destined to booking a room at a local hotel or pleading with a friend for a place to sleep for the night.

October 2012 Highest Gas Prices in The Nation!

Concerning our basic needs... as mentioned earlier, there is a very tiny Vons Market (with aisles so small you can't pass each other while pushing a shopping cart) on the Island with sales and limited supplies of products similar to the "real" Vons Markets on the Mainland. However, their supplies are very dependent on the weather because if there is a high wind advisory and the barge doesn't run, their supplies will run out. It is  quite common to find Vons has run out of their "bare essentials" such as milk, eggs, and bread. So, the Island residents will have to patiently wait until the weather gets better.

Teaching On A Remote Island 3

Besides our transportation obstacles that make us unique to other remote communities, Catalina Island Teachers have similar pros and cons to those of other remote communities. Whenever we walk through the 3/4 square mile city of Avalon, we are always prepared for "instant" parent-teacher conferences and/or student tutoring sessions, which we graciously accept as a part of our job.

The Seagulls Welcoming You To Avalon

We have learned we are sure to run into someone we know when we go into our local post office to pick up the mail or during a trip to Vons to buy a gallon of milk and we always have to be on our best behavior in public as we live in this "Island Bubble." But, that just goes along with our teaching assignment.

We especially have to be careful with what we say or "look like" we are doing as it can always be incorrectly perceived by others. The "Catalina Island Wave" cannot be forgotten and we don't dare look unhappy with someone or the whole town is soon to know about it, even before we have figured it out ourselves.

Finally, there is the unspeakable joy we receive while training our parents how to help teach their children and watching our students grow up through the years as we live together on this Island. We realize our lives are not our own as we live together with our parents and students in this small remote town. But, that is what we chose when we accepted a teaching assignment with Long Beach Unified School District on Santa Catalina Island.