`Don't Get No Respect' Punch Line No Joke To Teachers

Teachers say they get no respect. And say their paychecks prove it.

``People don't respect teachers the way they used to,'' said Skip Hulet, second-year English teacher at Northshore's Leota Junior High School. ``Kids call me names. Friends come up to me and say, `What have you done for my taxes lately?' ''

Along with teachers from 29 other Western Washington school districts, Northshore teachers walked out one day in February to gain the attention of the Legislature. They wanted to raise both their paychecks and community awareness of the state of education. They wanted respect.

The Legislature adjourned Monday, and what did the teachers get?

Awareness increased, they agree.

``I have talked to friends who hadn't realized the situation we are in,'' said Lisa Sramaty, Leota Junior High second-year teacher. ``It made the public more aware of the conditions for teachers.''

And pay increased, but only for senior teachers. The Legislature allotted $30 million of the state's $762 million surplus to a 2 percent salary increase for teachers with 12 years or more experience and some graduate education.

That is great for teachers in school districts such as Bellevue and Seattle, where up to one-third of the staff will reach retirement age in five years. It's not so great for school districts such as Northshore, with lots of new students and new teachers.

(The Washington Education Association had been lobbying for $300 million, or a 10 percent increase for all teachers, in addition to the 10 percent increase in the 1989-91 budget.)

Within individual districts, the money may be distributed in a variety of ways, including an across-the-board increase of 1 percent, said Greg Waddle, Northshore Education Association president.

But for a group of young Leota Junior High teachers, their jobs and their pay will remain more or less the same. With two to eight years experience, their paychecks range from $19,500 to $25,000 a year. The top salary is $36,000, earned by teachers with 13 years' experience or more.

``I'm up at 4:30 a.m.; I'm here between 6 and 6:30 in the morning, and I stay until 4:30 in the afternoon,'' said second-year science teacher Jane Vincent. ``I'm usually up grading papers until 11 at night. I am single and I have no social life.''

The average student today has more problems and fewer family members to rely on than his parents did when they were in school, studies on education and changing socio-economic conditions show.

People read about the increasing social problems: teen pregnancy, suicide and drug abuse, said Tim Brittell, eighth-year social studies teacher. But they don't realize those problems funnel into the public schools.

``I'm basically like another counselor,'' said Hulet, an English teacher who had to handle two student suicide attempts last year, his first year teaching.

``I had a girl come to me who observed her mother being beaten last night,'' Vincent said. ``I had to talk to her and make her feel better about herself and teach her science. How am I supposed to handle that with 30 kids to teach?''

What about respect?

The teachers say parents are generally sympathetic to their plight. Many are supportive. But the teachers say that is not enough.

``I don't think parents have made the connection that we are trying to get them to speak for us,'' said Scott Farquhar, a 16-year math teacher. ``The only people who can put pressure on the people in the Legislature are the voters.''

In addition, too many parents still view the public schools as cheap child care, said Larry Nakatsu, third-year health teacher. And Nakatsu said they are. Nakatsu said he pays $2 an hour for his 15-month-old son to attend day care. Nakatsu's pay averages 22 cents an hour for each student.

``Try telling someone you are a schoolteacher, and watch their expression,'' Nakatsu said. ``The reaction is always negative.''