certified within a short period of time. One in particular has been teaching a science course there and is STILL uncertified after MORE THAN 6 YEARS!

I thought that under the NCLB laws that such practice is illegal, especially when there are certified candidates applying for the job.

I suppose that in Dickenson County one's connections mean more than the law or our children's education.

As a current student of HHS, I feel that this is a two sided statement. It is true that some teachers in the Dickenson County School System were hired on the premise that they would attain their accreditation soon at a later date. However new policies have came into effect for all state schools, so technically no one should be un-accredited for a prolonged span of time. Also, what if the teachers standardized test scores are good? What if they are just a really good teacher that has has trouble taking the NTE (National Teachers Exam)? I personally know every educator in the Science department at HHS, they all have good standardized scores, and are great teachers.


As far as I know EVERYONE in the science department is accredited.

Have you considered that the scores may be good because there is rampant cheating. I've been told by people I believe that this is happening all the time now at HHS.

Is it true that there are no partitions between the computers on which students take their tests there at HHS? Such partitions are required in other school districts.

I took the NTE examination and it was one of the easiest tests I have ever taken. There is no excuse for a prospective teacher to fail such an easy test.

How can you defend the fact that there are people already certified to teach in these areas who are not hired?

How many of your science faculty have advanced degrees?

It all adds up.

How about your English teachers. I see from your post that you are having trouble with verb conjugation. What's with that?

I have to disagree with you statement “There is no excuse for a prospective teacher to fail such an easy test.” My sister is a very intelligent woman. She has almost completed her master’s degree in business and had worked for a lawyer for 10 years prior to her teaching career. She had a very difficult time passing the PRAXIS. Believe me, it’s not because she can’t teach or that she is dumb. She has test anxiety on timed tests. She was so concerned and upset with herself that she went to a counselor to help her get over her fear of timed tests. She in the end, passed her exam and is now fully certified after taking the exam 5 times.

If you think back years ago, teachers did not have so much placed on them to become a teacher. I feel, that teachers today teach because they love it. Think about it, someone with a Master’s degree only making $30,000 a year is a low income for so much education.

I stand by the statement. It IS an easy test. I know because I've taken it.

Teachers, physicians, attorneys, electricians, plumbers, welders etc. all must take tests to become certified to do their jobs. If a prospective teacher has a bit of test anxiety, s/he should see a mental health professional and try again or seek a different line of work and let someone who can pass the test take over.

Get tough Buttercup, it's a cold, cruel world.

You are full of S**t! And may I add full of yourself! May I ask what your profession is? If you are so d**n smart why don’t you go down HHS and teach and make sure no cheating is going on. If you are so aware of the problem down there, why don’t you be a man and do something about it instead of posting on message boards your jealously of all the teachers who have jobs down there. OR, did you apply for a job and was rejected? If so I have to say it was an excellent choice by the board.

There is no need for having such a potty mouth LOL!

BTW: One really doesn't have to be very smart to pass that test.

Okay Eisenstein! I passed that test even before I got my degree from college. On that test people either do really well on the reading and writing or really well on the math. Look, I really hate that you didn’t get a job! Go to another county and get a job since you feel that Dickenson County is such a s**t hole!

I did well on both parts. One doesn't have to be an Einstein to do well on the PRAXIS because it's really very easy. I think Homer Simpson could do well.

I have a job already making twice what the unfortunate teachers in Dickenson County make. I guess you're lucky to have any certified teachers left in Dickenson County.

We "Dickenson County Teachers" are not money hungry! I personally teach because I love children and I want to put something back into the community in which I grew up in! Why don't you take all that money you are making and relocate! We don't need someone living in out town that doesn't support it!

You are:

1. female
2. not the only source of income in your household, and
3. work at an elementary school.

WRONG!!!! I am female, I will give you that. I am the only source of income and I support my children. I barley get by, but I go to work enjoying what I do. I do not dread getting up at 5:30 every morning to go and make a living.

I couldn't do it.

You have no help from parents or an ex? You bought your own home or rent and still care for kids on on a Dickenson County teacher's salary? Dang, if you are doing it all yourself on your salary there, I should take money management lessons from you.

I presume since I was wrong about your being an elementary school teacher that you teach in one of the High Schools.

I would be happy to help you manage your money! Although, I am not some young stupid kid fresh out of college either who spends their money on material things. I have various talents. I have been in college and have obtained 3 associate degrees, a bachelor's degree and am currently working on my Master's. I assume that teaching is you only asset? If you want lots of money pal, you need a new profession.

Lots of money? Nah, just more than what I could make in Dickenson County and that is a far cry from lots. In fact, IF you have three children, and are going it alone, don't you qualify for reduced priced lunches there in Dickenson County? To express one's dissatisfaction for being among the lowest paid professional staff in the state is to be expected. It is a very natural response to an unfair situation.

You may not think you deserve more for your investment in time and money to earn your credentials but I do. I also think that the system is taking advantage of you. Now, if you are okay with being taken for a fool, who am I to argue with that?

I teach at a secondary school and as adjunct at a community college but now, fortunately for me I don't have to do as many other things now TO supplement my salary as I did in Dickenson County. I went from $32,000.00 in Dickenson County to $61,000.00 where I work now and I'M DOING THE SAME THINGS here! I can use my extra time now for recreational purposes or just to relax. I was even able to save about $27,000.00 last year. It is a much better work/life balance.

BTW how did I become your "pal"?

BTW, my kids are not in school! Pal, look at it as a "figure of speech". I don't think I would ever consider you a pal.

It is amazing that you can also afford child care.

Somehow the picture is becoming clearer and clearer.

And just what do you mean by that?

Studmuffin

May I have your telephone number?

why, do you like feisty women?

They're the best kind

I have relocated because I could not afford to live in the manner I deserved on the salary of a teacher in Dickenson County. However I do still have real estate there and I still pay taxes there on that real estate and on my personal property. Those taxes help to pay your salary so I guess I'm still helping out a bit (you do know how the economy works I presume).

I'm on your side actually and I think you need as much help as you can get.

Take a look:

http://www.praxisprepinfo.com/praxis_practice.htm

Sorry J.M, I have to disagree with you. I took the test. Several times! Some parts were easy, other parts completely stumped me. I finally passed it, but not until after I started teaching.

Testing is tricky. For some it comes easily. For me, I over analyze every question resulting in failure.

I passed the Praxis I quite easily. The Praxis II, however, has been a completely different story. I teach secondary math and the Praxis II Math Content Knowledge Test is extremely difficult. It's all a matter of subject area.

is for teachers, considering the education requirements and then testing requirements. I am a firm believer that you pay for what you get in this world and if we keep our good teachers it is only because of their dedication to their field. This really needs to be re-addressed as well as consolidation of the high schools. There was once a population and tax base in our county to justify three schools it does not exist in Dickenson County today. I believe our children's education is more important than sports rivalry's. When the majority of people in our county realize this, we will be able to pay our teachers what they are worth and provide a quality education our children need and deserve. I don't want to lose our high school any more than the rest of you all, but life sometimes demands tough choices.

One thing most people don't know. The school board is spending around $600,000 for new boilers at Ervinton HS. $600,000!!!! That building would probably not sell for 1/10 of that amount. Also, a new dump truck @ $70,000 this year - used to deliver coal to the 3 high schools 6 months out of the year. OH, one more thing, new expensive John Deer mowers were bought for all of the schools this year.

Just burns me up.....money is there for everything except salaries!!!!!!!!!!

I just saw a salary schedule. It must be the lowest in the state! How long would it take a teacher here to pay for their education anyway?

Well, well I am so happy to hear that many people have such an easy time passing the praxis. I for one was like your sister and guess what I am not stupid!!! I feel that I do have a learning disability and that has made me a better teacher! I study every night before teaching a lesson and than make sure that my students are understanding. If they do not "get" it from the way I teach then we go over it again in another way. This I think has made me a better teacher than someone who has breezed through high school and college and CANNOT understand what a child with a learning disability goes through. It really does please me that so many think it is an easy test that means "us teachers" are doing our job.

"we teachers"

I'm surprised that you have time to cover the same material again and meet your SOL objectives. I have to stay after school 2 hours each week to do that. It bites.

Thank you for the correction "we teachers" I caught this right as the message was sent. I'm glad this was not the praxis writing lol. I guess we are not as guarded on a message board with our writing. Oh, in case you were wondering I did pass the praxis (finally) with one point over. I am very proud of that and am not ashamed that it took me more than once, twice, three times....I was not out....we will stop there lol. By the way I am also fully accredited and highly qualified. Did I catch it right...that you teach? Please do not forget your learning disabilied students...they can pass the SOL with support. Many times teachers feel I will cover the material if students "get it" fine but if not well....those LD students can't learn anyway...this is NOT true and I hope you have learned from my experience.

I am happy that Dickenson County has you. Someone with a Learning Disability is able to use different strategies in order to teach the children in which they serve. Keep up the good work, and I am sure your SOL scores will show off your hard work. J.M. is a typical male with the big head! Probably some young teenager fresh out of college. From my counseling background, I can say that J.M. has a very low self esteem.

I hope his/her scores are good as well as the scores of her students.

Of course not every course requires an SOL test.

My students do take the SOL test and with good results. As for having time to re-teach the material... I watch the students who normally have trouble and send an aide back to help or change my teaching tatics. Also having the sp. ed. teacher in the classroom is a big HELP! They have a wealth of knowledge.

So it's elementary school?

No aid for me and no special education teacher. 125 students, a laboratory situation, and one planning block every other day.

There is NO time during a school day for remediation therefore I have to require some students to stay 1.5 - 2 hours after school each week.

yep, elem. and it is aide instead of aid.

Aid = assistance and (there is none for me).

Aide = assistant (I don't have one of those either).

Quite frankly I don't know what your trying to achieve here. And my verb conjugation in my previous statement looked fine (other than a small mistake in the second sentence). Although, you seem to think that HHS is a good place to get an education, as said by this quote from you.


"HHS offers the opportunity and a lot of people have gotten a good education there and have gone on to do well in many professional fields. However, it may be that you were too lazy to do your work. Nobody can force you to learn something. You must do it for yourself when you have the opportunity and you had a golden one at HHS. I know, because I've been around."

Yet you criticize the faculty.

Cheating? Cheating isn't rampant. There are ample precautions taken to prevent cheating. No partitions, but extreme spaces between students, and 4 chaperons per testing room.

I'm not debating Dickenson County Schools hiring policies, your right, it is all political, and its wrong. I would be ignorant if I deny that.

Out of curiosity, J.M., did you attend HHS?

I graduated from HHS long ago when you would fail a class for cheating ONCE.

I'm sure that we both know that cheating is out of control at HHS.

Many students there are riding the coattails of the few who are doing their work. The teachers are under pressure to turn out good SOL scores no matter what the students are doing and to accommodate unreasonable parents who think everything must be the teacher's fault and that their little darlings can do no wrong. To accomplish that many look the other way when cheating is occurring.

My point is that we are being dishonest with ourselves and that we need to make some hard unpopular decisions after a through, objective evaluation of what we are doing and of where our values lie.

Instructors need to be hired on merit not on the basis of who they are or who they know. If there is not a applicant certified in the area for which a vacancy has occurred, an uncertified person may be hired only if they agree to become certified within a reasonable amount of time. If they fail to accomplish that, they should lose their position and the vacancy should be advertised again.

That is no different from the way things are done elsewhere.

I don't disagree with you statement. Your right, "who you know" above merit is wrong, and hiring should be based on education and experience (I think that a high school degree should be a prerequisite for being on a school board, but thats an entire different discussion). I guess what I was trying to convey in my first statement was that, yes, there are probably some uncertified teachers at HHS and elsewhere in the county, but there are some teachers who aren't certified that do a good job. Truthfully I'm still surprised that people still want to work in the education field in Dickenson County, due to the low pay, and corruption. I respect those that stay with it.

Provisional certification is for a maximum of 3 years. Each year (including this year) un-certified teachers are dismissed. I believe that I am pretty safe in saying that there are ZERO teachers in Dickenson County that have been Provisional for more than 3 years.

Every year uncertified teachers are hired when there are certified applicants, and tes, that is against the law. How do they get around it...they will move certified teachers around to create an opening that there are not certified applicants for. They are then free to hire un-certified. Another method is to add things to the particular opening to "taylor" it the their candidate of choice.

Science, more than five years at HHS teaching out of his/her area of certification.

That's it; no more hints LOL.

I would first like to say that I took the PRAXIS and it was one of the easiest tests that I have ever taken. I do not know why people get so many chances to take the test especially after going through college for 4 years. Personally I think I could have took the PRAXIS and passed it when I was a freshman in college and could have bypassed the 4 years. The next thing that I would like to say is that the hiring system in Dickenson County Schools is very wrong. I applied there and did not even get an interview and I feel as though I have an excellent resume, I also have my license. I have heard from many reliable sources that Dickenson County has hired teachers for the upcoming school year that have either not passed their PRAXIS or do not have their license. This is my understanding and if I am wrong then someone please correct me: if there are just 2 applicants for a position and one person has graduated, passed their PRAXIS, and has their license, and the other person has graduated, not passed their PRAXIS and therefore does not have their license then they would HAVE to hire the first person.

If this needs to be changed elect new school board members you know one person controls the whole system

Your assignment is to find out which one is not certified to instruct in his/her field.

I already know

who are the uncertified teachers at this school? I heard that there was more than just 1 teacher that is uncertified? thanks

Go here:

https://p1pe.doe.virginia.gov/tinfo/

Type in a name and see for yourself. It is also important to note whether the area of certification matches the teaching assignment.

There is nobody at HHS certified to teach Earth Science.

But they have 3 years to get certified if I understand it correctly.