Hey Jealousy - Four Day School Work Week with Courthey White

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You are listening to the Balancing Act podcast. Here's your hosts,

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Jamie Wonko and Joe Vitale.

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Hey, so guess what? We are officially recording. Hello, hello,

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hello, and welcome back to the Balancing Act podcast. I am Jamie Wonko here with Mr. Joseph.

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Joe, never Joey, Vitale. Correct. Joey, my mom calls me Joey.

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And one ex-girlfriend. She was very nice. I don't like her,

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I don't like her We're going off the

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rails So hey guess

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what Our season 3 is brought to you by Our presenting sponsor

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Teacher's Insurance Plan Make sure you check out their website below For more

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information and to get a quote Teacher's Insurance Plan Auto insurance that

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brings exclusive Educator savings and exceptional customer care To New Jersey

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and Pennsylvania Educational employees It looks like someone picked up our shirts. Yes, we have shirts.

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Oh, hey. Yeah, they gave us swag with logos on it. I mean, look at the sky blue.

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I mean, this beautiful... We are going to pop in this blue. Yes, we are.

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Like nobody's business. I mean, you know, pop it like it's hot.

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That's how it is. That's the drip, as the kids call it. And, and...

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For a more formal look. Oh. Our gray.

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Oh, we have the quarter zips. How nice. I mean, the quarter zip? Who are we? What?

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They call that, the finance bros call that a Q-zip. That's good stuff.

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Okay. So now that we're, so now that we've been talking about our merch that

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we have for so long, hey, guess what? We have a guest that's waiting for us.

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We do. I mean, and I'm going to say, in the teacher community,

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there is nobody that can understand the excitement of a quarter zip,

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right? I mean, come on. We teachers, we love free stuff. Yeah.

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By the way, it's free. That's best. Thank you to our sponsors for the free stuff.

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We love it. Yes, thank you to our sponsor. We love it.

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Yeah. So, hey, let's bring our guest in who's been patiently waiting for us.

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Hey, Courtney, how are you? Courtney White, thank you very much for joining us today.

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Hello, guys. Thanks for having me. We are so excited to have you with us for a variety of reasons.

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Number one, make sure you give Courtney a follow on TikTok and Instagram and,

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Teaching with Mrs. White, M-R-S White, on TikTok and Instagram.

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She gave us information about why the algorithms are so wonky.

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She's going to be, you know, definitely getting us some info.

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But thank you very much for joining us today. It's awesome to have you.

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I'm excited. This is my first time on a podcast. Is it really?

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No way. That's so fun. Okay. I didn't know that.

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It is. Oh, man. Now we have, like, expectations to live up to and stuff.

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And great um i know

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sorry we had you out there as jb was modeling all of

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our merch from a teacher's insurance plan but you

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know i liked it we got it we got a sponsor we're doing things um i'm never gonna

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wear anything other than those two shirts ever again perfect we'll get one for

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your husband and cut the sleeves off because he doesn't have sleeves ever um

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is it courtney he's a giant man He's a giant man.

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So anyway, we are really excited to have you.

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One of the first times I saw you, I don't want to say it was your first viral

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video because I'm not really sure, but you did something really cute with your

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elementary school kids that wound up going viral.

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And we'd love to hear about it and have you tell our listeners about that experience

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and about that whole thing.

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Yeah. So my mom is really crafty and she's like constantly sewing, knitting.

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Anything you could make a craft out of, she has figured out how to master it.

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And I don't know how she has the time, but she saw an idea or came up with an

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idea of the students coloring like a little winter, like a beanie.

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And so I gave them papers and I was like, well, Miss White's going to make a bulletin board.

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Here is a paper. I want y'all to color it and give it back to me. And so they colored it.

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They didn't think anything of it. I just told them it was going to go up for

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the winter. And so they didn't question why I was doing it in October.

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And so I gave all the papers to my mom.

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My mom took them home and knitted all of their designs. So they all got their

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own personalized hat that they designed themselves for Christmas.

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And so in the video, I am showing off some of the hats.

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And then I made an additional video of me telling the kids that they were getting

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the hats and they lost their minds.

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They were so excited to get their hats, especially since they designed them

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themselves. So it was a cute moment for everyone.

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Yeah, that is adorable.

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Loved it. And I'm sure it's pinned as one of your stories on Instagram and TikTok,

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right? I'm sure people want to check that out. Okay, absolutely.

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Yeah, that's great. And you were even talking about how your mom does all the

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crafting and turns things into crafts and any kind of craft whatsoever.

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I just start immediately.

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Flop sweating because I just, I have, I have no crafty energy to, to, to deal with it.

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Uh, she's like that person. She's like, I can make that. And she has none of

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the equipment needed, but she'll go spend $200 to make the one thing that she

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could have bought for 20 bucks.

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But for her, it's like, I made it. I figured it.

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Nice. I love it. Uh, my, my, my partner here does all such a crafty,

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fun things with her students.

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And I'm like, no, I can't do it, but I can facilitate it.

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I can be a great assistant. I will support the craziest, wildest ideas and supply

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whatever they might need.

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The amount of hot glue that I go through at any given time in my classroom is insane.

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But I have very crafty kids, especially one of my own children.

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And she lives in a perpetual state of crafting.

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Joe's daughter paints. So I think, you know, it just depends on,

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but the hats, I mean, is that something that.

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You had ever like thought of before? Is that something like your mom would do for you?

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Is that, you know, does she, does she do that? Um, like on the regular,

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I know like my, my twins were in the NICU and there were these hats.

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We still have them that were crocheted by women, um, because,

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uh, you know, they, they're so tiny that you need a specialty,

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you know, um, hat for, for a baby that's born at like, you know,

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three pounds or whatever. Is that something that she does often?

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Well, she started a knitting club with the school that she worked at. She's also a teacher.

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And so she started a knitting club with them and they actually did make hats to donate to NICUs.

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And then she was teaching fifth grade at the time and I was teaching second grade.

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And she was like, well, I have like 80 something students. You only have 20.

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So I'm going to do this idea with your class because you have fewer kids.

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And so she just took the idea and and told me, gave me the supplies.

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And it was like, here, give these to your students. And I was like, okay. So she's like,

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She needs more credit for the video and all the things. I'm just the one who posted it.

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And so I got to have all the likes and shares from it. But are you and your

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mom are in different school districts, different schools or?

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We were, but now we are working in the same school. She like follows me around everywhere.

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So we went to college. She went to college. I went and got a master's where

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she's got a master's. We sat in college classes together.

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That is frightening. I love that.

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We have very different reactions to that. I sat at my table with my friends

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and she was like, come here, let me join and sat at my table.

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Or if I would like, uh, like doodle on my paper, she's like elbowing me like

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take notes, pay attention.

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I'm like, uh, having mom in class. So fun. Yeah.

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So there's your mom, not a teacher when you were growing up,

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it was, it was a returning.

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She had just a normal, like nine to five job.

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She, um, had me pretty young. So she just never got to go to college.

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She actually didn't get her GED until later in life.

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And so when I started college, I was the first person in my family to graduate

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high school and graduate from college or go to college.

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And so she decided, I think, I want to say a semester or two behind me to try

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to go get her degree as well.

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And we just ended up in sync by the time we both got into the education program

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and ended up in all of those classes together.

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That's amazing. That's amazing. Yeah. I'm, I'm dumbfounded by that. That's awesome.

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I was here for a hard time. So I'm like, I graduated this semester before you. Yeah.

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Nice. Now, listen, there's a little bit of a twang to your voice.

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We're accent people. So, you know, we get it. Where, and where are you teaching right now?

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And what grade do you have? I'm in Texas. I'm in the DFW area and I am teaching

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fifth grade math, which is anybody who knows me, like in my personal life,

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that's a big leap because I was always an English person. I love books. I love reading.

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And then last year I switched over to teaching math and a lot of people were

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very shocked because I was very adamant about how much I don't like math growing up.

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And so now I'm a math teacher and I actually really like it.

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Your choice or was it like a district switch or?

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I was trying to move into those districts since we are a four-day district. And the,

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place they had was a fifth grade math spot. And I was like, I can do it.

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I'm certified to teach it. So put me in coach.

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And my team, thankfully, was really helpful because I was like,

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I felt like a first year teacher all over again because I had only ever taught

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English. But now here I am teaching math.

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And DFW, as we asked you earlier, is Dallas Fort Worth. Yes.

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Yes. I knew that already.

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Um i also um i also

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realized from talking to courtney that uh jamie courtney

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and i are new best friends because uh we

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also enjoy a love for all things diet

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coke um i also don't want to make a former

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guest of ours dr santarelli very angry because our

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entire feed is just memes and videos about

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people drinking diet coke which jamie calls like any

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kind of soda is a dessert soda it's weird um i've

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never heard it before yes i know me i've never heard

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it either until i met my my buddy here because so it is

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a dessert thing um but anyway i all

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things diet coke uh you know that's courtney and

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i are you know we're we're besties now yeah i

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mean just so you know jamie out courtney and i get it yeah we're

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we're changing it out um also i have such i

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want to go to texas so bad and go on like i know

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what you're gonna say i want to go on like a barbecue barbecue tour yeah

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i want to do the barbecue tour and go to like all the big

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barbecue spots and eat all the foods because that is that literally my electric

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chair meal if i was going to the electric chair would be like texas brisket

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mac and cheese cornbread yes all the things all the stretchy pants yeah they're

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just wet so maybe a tank top yeah.

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I, yeah, I'm in. I'm in completely.

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I love everything about it. Um, and I've never been to Texas.

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So I have to, one of these days I have to get down there and do that.

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I got to go to DFW and be like, I was like, is that a, is that a shoe place?

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It was like, no, that's DSW.

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Okay. You got to pack for every season. Cause you don't know yesterday we were

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in shorts and tank tops today. It's 57 degrees outside. So like,

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I know what's happening.

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Oh, you're also, you're also, if you're, you're watching this on a Spotify or

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YouTube, you're dressed, uh, what, what are you wearing today, Courtney?

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I've never asked this on a podcast before. I am in pajamas.

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Here, let me give you all the full effect here. I'm like, okay. Oh, yeah.

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Pajamas. Oh, they're so cute. Yes.

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Gotta love the pajamas because it's also a spirit week too. Yes,

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red ribbon week. We are in our pajamas today.

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I love it. Good thing y'all didn't catch me on Friday because I'm going to be

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an inflatable Buzz Lightyear.

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I love everything about that uh that's the

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halloween costume is this like a group halloween costume for you

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yes our whole fifth grade team is dressing up as toy story

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characters and i went on amazon and saw the buzz light

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year costume and i'm all about the costumes and

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looking ridiculous and so the second i saw it i'm like immediately don't

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care about the price i look absolutely ridiculous in it

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i love everything about that um that's great

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i i also throw myself into the costumes it's it's

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awesome and we do all the spirit week things too we were talking before

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we went on the show about uh you know the different spirit

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weeks and one of our clips actually popped up about jamie and

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i being confused last year because there was like hispanic american

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heritage month but also like spirit week and

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it was like just like a cowboy but it was like just like a caballero day

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and there were flannels and hats and

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i just many overlapping themes yeah there were too many overlapping themes

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and then one of the things that courtney and i were talking about is like hey how many

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times have you had to like sit in on a parent meeting like in a costume or pajamas

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or you forget what you're wearing and you go out like let me go grab you know

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the drug you know the Walgreens to get my prescription and you're standing there

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today because I had on some like Grinch pajamas and I was like I have to be

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on a podcast maybe something that could pass as a shirt,

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it does it absolutely does yeah it looks amazing,

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Wouldn't have known unless you stood up and gave us the full effect, which we love.

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So one of the main reasons that I reached out to have you on,

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or Jamie and I talked about having you on, was you, and you mentioned it already.

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I definitely want to circle back to it. I hate that phrase, but I'm going to use it.

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You mentioned about moving into a four-day-a-week district.

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And one of the things that Jamie and I talk about specifically in the state

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of New Jersey is how are we going to attract more people to the profession, right? Right.

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And we talk about pension reform. We talk about health benefits and workday

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and all, you know, workload and all those different things. But some school

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districts around the country are moving to a four day work week.

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We'd love to talk with you about the good, the bad and the ugly.

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Right. Like what? Like you even said, like, I wanted to get into this district

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because they had a four day work week.

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And what your reasoning was behind

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it and what advantages you see about working in a four day work week.

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It's been great. The year that I came, last year was my first year in the district

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and it was their first year doing the four day week.

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So that was kind of like their starting point, trying to iron out the kinks,

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figure out schedule and things like that.

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And so it was kind of a learning curve for everyone across the board because

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now you're trying to condense your curriculum and move things around.

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And I think a lot of people were getting confused. Like, I don't understand

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you're in school for not as many days as the rest of us. How are you catching

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up with curriculum and everything?

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But for us in Texas, I don't know if it's like this in other states,

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but we stopped counting days after COVID and we switched to minutes.

00:14:37.979 --> 00:14:41.179
And so the students have to have a certain amount of instructional minutes for

00:14:41.179 --> 00:14:44.459
the school year instead of like the 180 days that we had before.

00:14:45.039 --> 00:14:47.359
Okay. So that was a big shift. That's news.

00:14:48.319 --> 00:14:51.059
Courtney, literally the first time I've ever heard that. Oh, really?

00:14:51.219 --> 00:14:54.039
So after COVID, since we were having to shut

00:14:54.039 --> 00:14:57.059
down so much that 2020-21 school

00:14:57.059 --> 00:15:00.219
year to do all the social distancing and like that's when

00:15:00.219 --> 00:15:04.159
we had to do like the whoever was in close contact they all had to quarantine

00:15:04.159 --> 00:15:07.979
I remember like I would have full classrooms of students out at a time just

00:15:07.979 --> 00:15:12.039
because two kids in the room got COVID and they weren't spaced enough so they

00:15:12.039 --> 00:15:15.819
had to quarantine the whole class and so they decided after that we're just

00:15:15.819 --> 00:15:20.139
going to count minutes and we're going to add like five to ten minutes onto every school day.

00:15:20.279 --> 00:15:24.239
And so if we did have all these big shutdowns or weather or anything,

00:15:24.239 --> 00:15:27.959
we didn't have to make 20 days up in the summer because we already had all the

00:15:27.959 --> 00:15:29.139
instructional minutes put in.

00:15:29.439 --> 00:15:32.419
And so it's kind of similar to that for the four day week.

00:15:32.699 --> 00:15:36.019
I only go to work for four days, but the students are still technically getting

00:15:36.019 --> 00:15:38.339
the same amount of time for the whole school year.

00:15:39.281 --> 00:15:45.921
And so that was a big shift. Wow. We don't start, like, we started August 7th,

00:15:46.001 --> 00:15:50.321
and we still get out the last week in May, just like all the other schools around

00:15:50.321 --> 00:15:52.161
us who are in the traditional five-day week.

00:15:52.501 --> 00:15:56.101
Yeah, and we do, our school calendar is completely different.

00:15:56.201 --> 00:15:57.381
We don't start until after Labor Day.

00:15:58.501 --> 00:16:01.481
We start, like, the first week of September, but we go all the way until,

00:16:01.481 --> 00:16:04.381
like, June 120th, I think.

00:16:05.101 --> 00:16:08.081
At least that's what it feels like. um in the 20s you

00:16:08.081 --> 00:16:11.401
23 24 25 somewhere in yeah well this

00:16:11.401 --> 00:16:14.481
year it's it's uh it's 23rd 23rd

00:16:14.481 --> 00:16:17.321
because it's drew's birthday right is that no last year

00:16:17.321 --> 00:16:20.061
it was the 25th but this year it's the 23rd yeah it is a

00:16:20.061 --> 00:16:23.081
long time and you know you mentioned

00:16:23.081 --> 00:16:26.461
about the school day and minutes and

00:16:26.461 --> 00:16:29.181
that's a very interesting concept to me because we have to

00:16:29.181 --> 00:16:32.281
go 180 school days yeah and we also build snow

00:16:32.281 --> 00:16:35.781
days into our calendar um i don't know if dallas

00:16:35.781 --> 00:16:39.041
forthworth experiences those type of weather delays or

00:16:39.041 --> 00:16:45.941
not no days no days um so you know last couple winters have been mild and the

00:16:45.941 --> 00:16:48.921
extra snow days they take them instead of taking them off at the end of the

00:16:48.921 --> 00:16:52.441
year because of when graduation is scheduled and events and stuff like that

00:16:52.441 --> 00:16:58.041
they will add those days they'll have like um they'll give us an extra day on Memorial Day weekend.

00:16:58.561 --> 00:17:03.901
They'll give us a day in New Jersey. Our primary is on a Tuesday in June.

00:17:04.161 --> 00:17:08.041
So they'll give us like the Monday off before the primary. So like we literally

00:17:08.041 --> 00:17:11.341
like go to school for three days. Then we're off for four days.

00:17:11.461 --> 00:17:13.481
Then we go to school for three days. Then we're off for four days.

00:17:13.601 --> 00:17:14.461
Then we go to school for three days.

00:17:14.601 --> 00:17:17.401
And like the kids are done.

00:17:17.701 --> 00:17:21.281
Like when we get to Memorial Day weekend, they are just like they're

00:17:21.281 --> 00:17:24.141
out of school more than they're in school and then the

00:17:24.141 --> 00:17:29.861
last five days of school for us are uh half days so and at the middle school

00:17:29.861 --> 00:17:32.781
level which is jamie and i teach teach middle school there's no final exams

00:17:32.781 --> 00:17:37.861
so like we're literally entertaining these kids for the last five days you know

00:17:37.861 --> 00:17:41.941
the devices are collected and and your stuff's put away so you're like playing

00:17:41.941 --> 00:17:43.821
games and keeping them entertained and.

00:17:44.926 --> 00:17:48.086
And not really doing any instructional stuff during that time, right?

00:17:48.266 --> 00:17:51.386
You might be doing like a little bit here and there, but there's not really

00:17:51.386 --> 00:17:52.926
much that you're doing at that point.

00:17:52.966 --> 00:17:57.826
So I just, I really find it interesting, the concept of minutes.

00:17:57.826 --> 00:18:02.206
Was it just your district that did that or is it the entire state went to minutes?

00:18:02.466 --> 00:18:08.946
So the whole state went to minutes and then it's kind of going district by district

00:18:08.946 --> 00:18:10.886
on who was doing the four day weeks or not.

00:18:10.886 --> 00:18:16.426
I know it was heavily polled in the area for the community, and they were asking

00:18:16.426 --> 00:18:18.766
the parents, are you interested in a four-day week?

00:18:19.226 --> 00:18:23.726
And if you are interested in a four-day week, would you need child care?

00:18:23.946 --> 00:18:27.466
Or do you not need child care? And then once that kind of got pushed through

00:18:27.466 --> 00:18:31.026
and they had a majority on that, then it was, would you prefer to be off on

00:18:31.026 --> 00:18:36.586
Monday or would you prefer to be off on Fridays? And that was put to a vote as well. I...

00:18:37.382 --> 00:18:41.342
What day are you? We're off on Mondays. I think a lot of parents,

00:18:41.542 --> 00:18:45.122
because it's the whole district, all the way up to high school,

00:18:45.142 --> 00:18:46.962
they all get the four-day weeks.

00:18:47.282 --> 00:18:51.082
And so a lot of the kids that are in sports, they have to be at school on Friday

00:18:51.082 --> 00:18:53.522
anyways for football, basketball, all the things.

00:18:53.662 --> 00:18:55.942
And so they were like, well, we'll just take the Monday off.

00:18:56.102 --> 00:19:00.102
But then also almost all of the little random holidays we have here and there

00:19:00.102 --> 00:19:01.842
are the days off. They're on Monday already.

00:19:02.082 --> 00:19:06.022
And so we would already had those Mondays off. So it kind of made it easier

00:19:06.022 --> 00:19:10.122
in that sense, too. Otherwise, we would have a lot of four-day weekends randomly throughout the year.

00:19:10.442 --> 00:19:14.002
What does that help with that? Courtney, walk us through your day.

00:19:14.302 --> 00:19:17.662
So, for example, we start at 8.05 and we're done at 3.05.

00:19:19.002 --> 00:19:26.602
What does your day start and end? We start at 7.35 and we end at 3.35.

00:19:27.242 --> 00:19:30.422
And so I have the students come down at 7.35.

00:19:30.942 --> 00:19:37.502
Well, okay. Actually, the doors open for students to come in at 7 for breakfast and all the things.

00:19:37.722 --> 00:19:41.262
And so a couple of the teachers on my team have morning duty.

00:19:41.262 --> 00:19:45.082
So they just have a morning room and the kids are just being collected in there.

00:19:45.202 --> 00:19:49.002
But then at 735 when the bell rings, that's when students are released to their

00:19:49.002 --> 00:19:51.122
classes. So that's technically when our day starts.

00:19:51.862 --> 00:19:54.862
We have a little bit of homeroom time. And then since I'm fifth grade,

00:19:55.022 --> 00:19:58.622
we rotate. And so I rotate through three groups of kids throughout the day.

00:20:00.042 --> 00:20:03.702
And 335 is dismissal. So we normally pack up around like 320,

00:20:04.022 --> 00:20:08.262
325, send them all to their dismissal spots, start dismissing at 335.

00:20:08.582 --> 00:20:12.262
So the day's really not much longer than your typical like elementary day.

00:20:12.402 --> 00:20:15.442
I know some people are like concerned because we start early,

00:20:15.442 --> 00:20:20.382
but even in five-day schools that I was in, we've always started the day around 730.

00:20:20.642 --> 00:20:23.942
Middle school started it a little bit later. High school starts a little bit later.

00:20:24.428 --> 00:20:27.628
And so it's always kind of staggered. And if you don't, if you don't know the

00:20:27.628 --> 00:20:30.048
exact, what are the middle school and high school times? Like,

00:20:30.108 --> 00:20:31.368
what time did they start? What time did they end?

00:20:31.628 --> 00:20:34.728
Approximately, if you... I want to say that the high school starts somewhere

00:20:34.728 --> 00:20:41.108
around 8.30-ish, and then middle school is somewhere in between that 7.30 and 8.30 time.

00:20:41.148 --> 00:20:45.188
Because I believe it gives time for the buses to, like, get around the district and get everybody.

00:20:45.388 --> 00:20:49.208
And then for the end of the day, they get out a little bit later than we do.

00:20:49.528 --> 00:20:51.668
Oh, so they get out closer to, like, 4 o'clock?

00:20:52.088 --> 00:20:53.928
Yeah. A little bit after 4. Okay. Yeah.

00:20:54.586 --> 00:20:59.246
I mean, it's the same amount of minutes that we have. Yeah, literally.

00:20:59.466 --> 00:21:00.686
It's the same amount of minutes.

00:21:01.386 --> 00:21:06.766
So the other thing is, like, why did you personally want to make the switch

00:21:06.766 --> 00:21:10.366
to work in a four day work week district?

00:21:11.546 --> 00:21:18.766
I not the year before I decided to move to this district. I was done with teaching. Oh, good to be done.

00:21:19.386 --> 00:21:24.446
I loved the kids. I loved being involved in doing all this stuff with them.

00:21:24.586 --> 00:21:30.266
But the micromanaging, all of the expectations, all of the extra work that I was putting in.

00:21:30.426 --> 00:21:35.006
And I felt like I'm giving myself all day long and I have three little kids at home.

00:21:35.226 --> 00:21:39.646
And so by the time I got home with them, I was so just overstimulated,

00:21:40.026 --> 00:21:44.506
exhausted, overwhelmed, and they were getting all the worst parts of me as a mom.

00:21:44.766 --> 00:21:47.046
And so I just, I was so over it.

00:21:47.486 --> 00:21:51.746
And the pay and the expectations and all of these things that were thrown on

00:21:51.746 --> 00:21:55.766
me, I was like, I could go get an office job and half of my stress would be cut in half.

00:21:56.066 --> 00:21:59.026
And I was applying for jobs all school year long.

00:21:59.326 --> 00:22:06.026
But fortunately and unfortunately in Texas, I make a good amount of money and

00:22:06.026 --> 00:22:10.466
any job that I was going to go to would be a significant pay cut and my family

00:22:10.466 --> 00:22:11.526
just couldn't afford that.

00:22:12.306 --> 00:22:17.446
In the district that I am, I believe first year teachers start at 63,000 or

00:22:17.446 --> 00:22:18.406
somewhere around there.

00:22:18.786 --> 00:22:24.846
So trying to get an entry-level job somewhere else, no one was going to pay me $65,000.

00:22:25.446 --> 00:22:28.786
And so I was like, I can't take that pay cut because who knows how long until

00:22:28.786 --> 00:22:33.106
I'm going to actually make that money. And we actually ended up building a home and moving.

00:22:33.606 --> 00:22:38.826
And I met a bunch of the neighbors. We all like had little driveway hangouts with all of our kids.

00:22:38.866 --> 00:22:42.966
And one of the other moms was like, hey, I teach over at this school and we

00:22:42.966 --> 00:22:44.206
have a math opening. And I was like,

00:22:44.800 --> 00:22:48.760
oh, okay. I was like, why don't you throw my name in the ring for it?

00:22:48.760 --> 00:22:50.560
I've never taught math, but I'm willing to try.

00:22:50.780 --> 00:22:55.400
I had an interview two days later. The next day they offered me the job. And I was like, perfect.

00:22:55.660 --> 00:22:59.440
The district that I came from hated every second of working there.

00:23:00.160 --> 00:23:04.040
Even being blatantly honest, the parents were very hard to deal with.

00:23:04.420 --> 00:23:08.540
The administration was even worse. There was no support for behavior,

00:23:09.220 --> 00:23:10.880
anything as a new teacher.

00:23:11.180 --> 00:23:14.980
It was just, there was no positives to coming to work each day.

00:23:15.140 --> 00:23:18.680
And I had felt like that for a couple of years. And I even tried moving to other

00:23:18.680 --> 00:23:21.800
districts to see maybe it's a district thing because sometimes we know admin

00:23:21.800 --> 00:23:23.040
or whatever can be the problem.

00:23:23.520 --> 00:23:26.900
And I was so over it. I was like, maybe I'll go back to school.

00:23:27.180 --> 00:23:30.560
I'll go back and do nursing. I'll go get a cosmetology license.

00:23:30.700 --> 00:23:33.220
I'll do something else that doesn't involve being in a classroom.

00:23:33.540 --> 00:23:36.800
And then when I came here, it was like a night and a difference.

00:23:37.180 --> 00:23:40.260
I haven't looked for other jobs. I haven't tried to find other jobs.

00:23:40.460 --> 00:23:45.000
I just have, just having that extra day at home and knowing that I have time

00:23:45.000 --> 00:23:49.560
with my kids, I can handle other things. I have a break from it all.

00:23:49.740 --> 00:23:53.220
It just made a drastic difference in how I feel about education.

00:23:54.757 --> 00:23:58.077
I appreciate your candor and your honesty, to be very honest.

00:23:58.277 --> 00:24:01.277
I mean, that's, first of all, refreshing to hear.

00:24:01.577 --> 00:24:06.897
But also, some of the people we've had on have suggested to do some of the things

00:24:06.897 --> 00:24:11.057
that you do, like move districts, go to a different school, find your people somewhere else.

00:24:11.057 --> 00:24:13.857
Like look and we could both

00:24:13.857 --> 00:24:17.057
tell you we have worked for great bosses and we

00:24:17.057 --> 00:24:20.977
have worked for some not so great bosses um which can

00:24:20.977 --> 00:24:25.897
absolutely kill the morale of a building where it then becomes where it then

00:24:25.897 --> 00:24:30.477
becomes everyone unifying together like it's an us against them thing instead

00:24:30.477 --> 00:24:36.317
of everybody moving in the same direction um you know for what's best for your

00:24:36.317 --> 00:24:39.237
students as well as what's best for yourself in the classroom.

00:24:39.517 --> 00:24:44.397
Like I'm so refreshed now in my career where like I know that it does not matter

00:24:44.397 --> 00:24:45.637
the activity that I am doing.

00:24:47.037 --> 00:24:52.257
Or like if I have an issue with a student, I'm going to be supported 110% of the time.

00:24:52.897 --> 00:24:57.897
Yeah, it makes a huge difference. Giant difference because it was night and day.

00:24:58.197 --> 00:25:02.997
Even like just the four day weeks, that was amazing. But just the difference in admin.

00:25:03.277 --> 00:25:07.697
I wasn't afraid to go tell them, Hey, the daycare called my baby is sick.

00:25:07.817 --> 00:25:10.837
I need to go get them. So my last district, can someone else go get them?

00:25:11.771 --> 00:25:14.611
No, their mom's going to go get them. And then I came here and it was like,

00:25:14.951 --> 00:25:16.091
go take care of your family.

00:25:16.231 --> 00:25:19.991
And it's like top to bottom that way. Like the superintendent is really involved.

00:25:20.491 --> 00:25:25.251
He wants you to take care of your family. And my principal wants me to take care of my family.

00:25:25.391 --> 00:25:29.031
And it never, they never make me feel bad about it, even with the four day weeks.

00:25:29.251 --> 00:25:32.471
Cause I know last year it was a lot of stress of like, we have to keep going.

00:25:32.591 --> 00:25:34.691
We have to keep up with the pace because we only have four days,

00:25:34.691 --> 00:25:38.251
but they also just make sure like you're still taken care of.

00:25:38.251 --> 00:25:42.291
The kids are taken care of, your family's taken care of. So it made a huge difference all around.

00:25:43.251 --> 00:25:46.811
Will your kids go to the school in a four-day week?

00:25:48.071 --> 00:25:53.731
We live here. And so my children are not zoned for the school that I work at.

00:25:53.811 --> 00:25:56.631
But since I work here, they get to come here. So I have one in kindergarten

00:25:56.631 --> 00:25:58.811
and one in pre-K here on my campus with me.

00:25:59.151 --> 00:26:07.651
Wow. So what does the typical non-teacher do with their children on those Mondays?

00:26:07.651 --> 00:26:10.011
Yeah, that was going to be my question. Yeah.

00:26:10.311 --> 00:26:13.311
Yeah, that's always the first question people ask me because they're like,

00:26:13.371 --> 00:26:16.371
what about working parents? What are we going to do for people with real jobs?

00:26:16.451 --> 00:26:18.011
And I'm like, I have a real job.

00:26:18.971 --> 00:26:25.651
But the district offers child care and I don't participate in that child care.

00:26:25.851 --> 00:26:31.171
I pay for outside child care for my baby. But I want to say that last year it

00:26:31.171 --> 00:26:34.251
was anywhere from $10 to $20 for the one day that we're off.

00:26:34.251 --> 00:26:38.771
And so it's very affordable for, I feel like, any income because,

00:26:39.071 --> 00:26:41.651
let's see, that's $40,000.

00:26:42.208 --> 00:26:46.668
To $80 a month that families are having to pay for child care versus having

00:26:46.668 --> 00:26:51.848
to do drop-in care at a daycare, which is normally around $35 to $45 a day in

00:26:51.848 --> 00:26:55.908
this area, if they even have the availability for drop-in care.

00:26:57.008 --> 00:27:02.948
A lot of the community, like we have a gymnastics place, like a tumbling place

00:27:02.948 --> 00:27:06.728
and different little places that offer activities for kids.

00:27:06.928 --> 00:27:09.728
They started hosting day camps. And so you could sign

00:27:09.728 --> 00:27:12.608
up and go drop your kid off for the day and do a day camp and

00:27:12.608 --> 00:27:15.368
they work like it's an all-day thing you can do a half

00:27:15.368 --> 00:27:18.408
day you can do a full day you can do morning or afternoon and so

00:27:18.408 --> 00:27:22.448
a lot of the community um businesses started

00:27:22.448 --> 00:27:26.508
offering that as well and then a lot of the high schoolers even have started

00:27:26.508 --> 00:27:30.328
posting across like all the community like facebook pages and groups like child

00:27:30.328 --> 00:27:34.608
care babysitting services so i feel like there's a lot of options for families

00:27:34.608 --> 00:27:38.168
i know there's some people that still complain that they can't afford it and

00:27:38.168 --> 00:27:39.828
that we should go back to a five-day week.

00:27:40.048 --> 00:27:43.328
But I feel like the majority, since this was voted in by the community,

00:27:43.468 --> 00:27:47.248
they knew what to expect and they're so far on board with it.

00:27:47.628 --> 00:27:52.588
It's, yeah, it's, it's a whole community shift, right? Like everybody's got to get on board.

00:27:52.668 --> 00:27:54.848
We've talked about, I've talked about, like I teach civics, right?

00:27:54.928 --> 00:27:58.968
So we talk about like extended school day and we talked about like if,

00:27:59.088 --> 00:28:02.868
you know, if you went to a four-day week, but you had like a little bit more

00:28:02.868 --> 00:28:06.688
time to go to school each day, would you be willing to do that?

00:28:06.688 --> 00:28:10.188
Because then you would have like a Friday off or a Monday off every week or whatever it is.

00:28:10.248 --> 00:28:13.608
Like we've talked about this, but to put it into practice, some of the obstacles

00:28:13.608 --> 00:28:17.168
that come up, like we have a very large population. Um.

00:28:18.487 --> 00:28:22.027
I don't know, like, like in, in my district, in our district alone,

00:28:22.147 --> 00:28:24.907
Jamie and I, there's 15, 14,000 students.

00:28:25.307 --> 00:28:29.447
So about a thousand per grade level. So I'm sure some of the districts in Texas

00:28:29.447 --> 00:28:31.007
are just about the same size.

00:28:31.447 --> 00:28:35.747
Yeah. I think most of the districts that I've seen that switched to the four

00:28:35.747 --> 00:28:38.127
day week are the smaller districts.

00:28:38.267 --> 00:28:43.547
I haven't seen a big district like Dallas or Houston or like places that have

00:28:43.547 --> 00:28:48.687
tons and tons and tons of students do this. I'm not sure how that would work on a scale.

00:28:49.087 --> 00:28:54.527
Like where I am, I want to say we have four elementary schools,

00:28:54.807 --> 00:28:56.267
two middle schools, and one high school.

00:28:56.547 --> 00:29:00.567
So everyone's finally not been to that one high school, so it's not really big.

00:29:00.807 --> 00:29:04.467
So I'm not sure how that would work on like these bigger areas,

00:29:04.467 --> 00:29:07.567
but for all the districts that I've seen making this switch,

00:29:07.707 --> 00:29:09.627
they've all been smaller school districts.

00:29:10.484 --> 00:29:15.204
Yeah, it's just it's so interesting to me to to see that it was voted on by

00:29:15.204 --> 00:29:19.904
the community and it wasn't just like this, like, hey, we're going to do this, figure it out.

00:29:20.164 --> 00:29:23.184
Like, I really like to figure it out, too.

00:29:23.304 --> 00:29:27.984
It was like a year of like polling them and getting opinions and thoughts and

00:29:27.984 --> 00:29:32.324
game plans before it ever like went to the final vote and got voted in.

00:29:32.544 --> 00:29:35.524
So what? Sorry, go ahead, Jen. What do you think is the greatest,

00:29:35.644 --> 00:29:37.904
greatest advantage for the children?

00:29:38.504 --> 00:29:44.244
I think it's helping with behavior and attendance, like across the board from

00:29:44.244 --> 00:29:45.744
what I'm seeing in the classroom.

00:29:45.904 --> 00:29:49.704
And I've didn't work in this district before they switched to this model.

00:29:50.004 --> 00:29:53.124
But to me, I don't have very many behavior issues.

00:29:53.524 --> 00:29:57.284
The kids are getting a lot more time to be a kid because they're getting that

00:29:57.284 --> 00:30:00.244
three day weekend. They get a time to reset and come back into it.

00:30:01.404 --> 00:30:05.744
Attendance levels are a lot better because now parents have that day to go schedule

00:30:05.744 --> 00:30:09.484
all their appointments and get things done instead of having to pull them out

00:30:09.484 --> 00:30:15.244
of class and have all these days to make things up. And so I've seen that being helpful.

00:30:15.824 --> 00:30:19.784
A lot of kids are also utilizing that Monday off for missing work and doing

00:30:19.784 --> 00:30:20.964
homework and things like that.

00:30:21.024 --> 00:30:23.124
So then they're done for the rest of the week. They don't have to worry about

00:30:23.124 --> 00:30:24.624
their homework. It's already turned in.

00:30:24.884 --> 00:30:28.384
They are caught up on their missing work. Parents have time to like sit down

00:30:28.384 --> 00:30:32.084
with them and actually go over their work and stuff with them on those Mondays.

00:30:32.264 --> 00:30:36.204
So I feel like it's kind of helping academically, behaviorally,

00:30:36.444 --> 00:30:38.564
with attendance, kind of across the board for everybody.

00:30:39.562 --> 00:30:43.082
I mean, I think about the, like, making appointments alone.

00:30:43.562 --> 00:30:47.482
Yeah. Maybe a man, like, JV's just like, oh, my gosh. Yo, listen,

00:30:47.602 --> 00:30:49.602
I'm talking to you orthodontists, okay?

00:30:49.902 --> 00:30:56.022
Every orthodontist in human history is open until, like, 3.30 in the afternoon or 4 o'clock.

00:30:56.642 --> 00:31:01.362
Have one night, guys. Just one night where you shift your hours and you stay

00:31:01.362 --> 00:31:04.442
open until 7 or maybe two nights a week or whatever it is.

00:31:04.482 --> 00:31:07.222
There's got to be a way. like why like every time it's like

00:31:07.222 --> 00:31:10.162
oh uh my daughter had to go like get a braces adjustment it's

00:31:10.162 --> 00:31:13.502
like okay well we have 12 30 it's like okay so everyone

00:31:13.502 --> 00:31:16.442
just has to be like and it's every month you're not

00:31:16.442 --> 00:31:19.562
great and it's every month like i utilized my day

00:31:19.562 --> 00:31:22.822
off yesterday to go to the dentist and i

00:31:22.822 --> 00:31:25.842
have like i said i have three kids so trying to get them doctor's appointments

00:31:25.842 --> 00:31:28.682
i have to have like multiple time slots on there

00:31:28.682 --> 00:31:32.022
so i'm like a whole monday here we go let's knock out all the appointments yeah

00:31:32.022 --> 00:31:35.062
yeah we i love the idea we have been there we

00:31:35.062 --> 00:31:37.882
we get it yeah i talked you about that when we first spoke it's

00:31:37.882 --> 00:31:40.842
like you you are in it girl like yes you are you are you

00:31:40.842 --> 00:31:43.682
are in the weeds as they say in the restaurant business like i get

00:31:43.682 --> 00:31:46.542
it eventually like eventually you start seeing

00:31:46.542 --> 00:31:50.482
the clouds part and the sun come out and not that it's not amazing but

00:31:50.482 --> 00:31:53.382
once it's over you're like people are sometimes like oh you

00:31:53.382 --> 00:31:56.642
missed like baba like there are certain things you don't miss yes and

00:31:56.642 --> 00:31:59.662
like no like we were just talking about on the previous on an

00:31:59.662 --> 00:32:02.462
episode recording about like the flu shots and carrying the two

00:32:02.462 --> 00:32:05.442
you know i have twins and and joe

00:32:05.442 --> 00:32:08.522
has twins as well and i um so so i

00:32:08.522 --> 00:32:11.602
i took my kids for a flu shot recently and we

00:32:11.602 --> 00:32:15.722
all you know we get out of the car they're 17 and 13 and we walk in and we sit

00:32:15.722 --> 00:32:20.042
down and they're like banter banter banter and ha ha ha and i was like holy

00:32:20.042 --> 00:32:25.142
moly like how did i do this with like you're toddling around you two are in

00:32:25.142 --> 00:32:29.302
bucket seats you know try to say to them like this is really great they're like

00:32:29.302 --> 00:32:30.122
mom we're here for a shot.

00:32:30.262 --> 00:32:33.022
What do you mean? And it was like, no, this is really like a moment of like.

00:32:33.262 --> 00:32:36.362
Wow, this is amazing how far we've come. But yeah.

00:32:36.902 --> 00:32:40.082
What did you hear is the number one, like pushback from parents in the community

00:32:40.082 --> 00:32:43.902
who don't want a four day week? Like, did you get like any kind of...

00:32:44.693 --> 00:32:49.833
Just from what I see online from all of my lovely people who like to tell me

00:32:49.833 --> 00:32:54.173
everything, is just what are they supposed to do with their kids?

00:32:54.493 --> 00:33:00.993
And so I've gotten a lot of pushback because I'm very outspoken on some things

00:33:00.993 --> 00:33:02.333
sometimes on my social media.

00:33:02.513 --> 00:33:04.653
And I was just like, school's not childcare.

00:33:04.973 --> 00:33:08.753
And I understand that families use it for childcare at times.

00:33:08.753 --> 00:33:15.033
But I mean at the end of the day if this was summer a Monday off any of these

00:33:15.033 --> 00:33:20.633
extra days then you would have to plan for child care for your kid and I understand that the school.

00:33:22.373 --> 00:33:27.233
Is in charge of your kid for the week but if something were to come up you would

00:33:27.233 --> 00:33:30.973
have to plan for child care either way and I even put that on the flip side

00:33:30.973 --> 00:33:34.713
because I do have to work one Monday a month I have to find child care for my

00:33:34.713 --> 00:33:38.613
two school-age kids and so then it's on me as their mom to find the childcare.

00:33:39.133 --> 00:33:45.673
And so I'm like, I, I get both sides of it, but it's one of your expectations as a parent.

00:33:45.773 --> 00:33:50.313
And you're given your school calendar, like almost a year in advance.

00:33:50.313 --> 00:33:53.473
So you got to start plugging in people if you need to, like grandma's watching

00:33:53.473 --> 00:33:57.093
this day, aunts this day, daycare this day, go to the YMCA over here.

00:33:58.093 --> 00:34:02.073
And a lot of people don't like to hear that, but it's one of the realities of

00:34:02.073 --> 00:34:05.673
it. If it got voted in, you kind of just got to go with it and find child care.

00:34:06.830 --> 00:34:10.070
Absolutely. Now, the one Monday a month that you have to work,

00:34:10.250 --> 00:34:12.790
is that with other teachers?

00:34:13.090 --> 00:34:16.930
Are there kids there, not there? No kids. So the kids still have that Monday off.

00:34:17.390 --> 00:34:22.830
We report, and normally it's professional development, and then you get a little bit of a work day.

00:34:23.210 --> 00:34:26.770
Sometimes you're at your campus. Sometimes you're at other campuses around the

00:34:26.770 --> 00:34:31.590
district. But since we start earlier in August, we only have like two,

00:34:31.970 --> 00:34:34.770
I want to say we only had two days of professional development,

00:34:34.770 --> 00:34:38.110
because I know some districts, they have like a full week of professional development.

00:34:38.350 --> 00:34:41.910
So since we only have those two days, they kind of spread it up into those Mondays

00:34:41.910 --> 00:34:43.550
for the rest of the school year.

00:34:43.990 --> 00:34:48.310
Okay. And what do you find your professional development to be purposeful and useful?

00:34:50.504 --> 00:34:54.184
Oh, God. Am I going to have to cut this out? I guess I'll have to cut that question out.

00:34:54.624 --> 00:34:57.804
I don't know. I feel like it always depends because I feel like there's always

00:34:57.804 --> 00:35:03.164
those presentations where they come in. They're like, we're going to show you how to use Lookit.

00:35:03.524 --> 00:35:07.124
I'm like, I've been using this for six years. I can make a Lookit because I

00:35:07.124 --> 00:35:08.304
have Lookit code of Lookit.

00:35:08.404 --> 00:35:12.184
And here we are doing a professional development on it. But I know some teachers have never used it.

00:35:12.384 --> 00:35:14.784
So some of them, I'm like, yes, this is amazing.

00:35:15.184 --> 00:35:18.464
I love this. And then other times I'm just like, okay, I've used this before.

00:35:18.664 --> 00:35:21.724
Like we just sit here. I mean, the look on your face there was like.

00:35:21.824 --> 00:35:23.804
It was perfect. It was like, bro, you serious?

00:35:24.224 --> 00:35:29.224
I do like, however, my district does two professional development days.

00:35:29.884 --> 00:35:32.184
Last year was just one, but this year they're going to do two.

00:35:32.544 --> 00:35:34.984
And it's all led by teachers within the district.

00:35:35.484 --> 00:35:39.064
And you get to kind of like pick which presentations you want to go to.

00:35:39.364 --> 00:35:42.924
And so you can plug in your schedule however you want. I'm actually presenting

00:35:42.924 --> 00:35:46.644
at the one we have coming soon, which is wild to me because I hate talking in

00:35:46.644 --> 00:35:50.584
front of other adults, but I, for some reason, decided to sign up and teach

00:35:50.584 --> 00:35:52.184
one of the professional development spots.

00:35:52.384 --> 00:35:56.564
So I'm hoping not a lot of people come to it, so I don't have to talk to a room full of people.

00:35:56.944 --> 00:36:00.064
But if it happens, it happens, I guess. I'm already sweating thinking about it.

00:36:00.724 --> 00:36:03.944
So if you're listening, make sure you sign up for Courtney's session.

00:36:05.384 --> 00:36:09.384
Teachers are notoriously the worst. Seriously, they're the worst.

00:36:09.644 --> 00:36:12.004
Teachers are the worst audience. You talk to your social media all the time.

00:36:12.264 --> 00:36:14.564
You're up in front of your students, like doing all these things.

00:36:14.664 --> 00:36:17.624
I'm like, yeah, but then other adults were probably like, this lady's dumb.

00:36:17.784 --> 00:36:20.844
What is happening? And then I like forget my name and I start sweating and I

00:36:20.844 --> 00:36:22.784
don't know where I am. I'm like, I can't do it.

00:36:22.904 --> 00:36:26.424
Yeah. We we've done it and we've been there and we've like, uh,

00:36:26.804 --> 00:36:28.844
yeah, it's, it's, it can be very stressful.

00:36:29.204 --> 00:36:33.024
Um, we like to say the best PD is the teacher down the hall.

00:36:33.524 --> 00:36:35.884
So, you know, the idea that you, uh.

00:36:36.565 --> 00:36:39.325
Can can learn from others and you know there is a lot

00:36:39.325 --> 00:36:42.165
of pd that we get where people come in and they and they say

00:36:42.165 --> 00:36:45.025
like i used to be a teacher or you know

00:36:45.025 --> 00:36:48.005
when i was a teacher and i immediately i'm so

00:36:48.005 --> 00:36:52.125
biased i'm like that you know that i don't want you know and i get it and people

00:36:52.125 --> 00:36:55.245
have to leave and move on and all the things but now she makes that noise out

00:36:55.245 --> 00:37:01.545
loud she's like i don't care for i already you've lost like part of my like

00:37:01.545 --> 00:37:05.425
attentiveness if that's like how you're yeah like oh where do you teach oh I

00:37:05.425 --> 00:37:06.325
don't teach anymore it's like

00:37:06.650 --> 00:37:10.910
No, thank you. But I do love the idea of ongoing PD. I love the idea that you

00:37:10.910 --> 00:37:16.850
have time because something that our boss is really good at is if there is ever

00:37:16.850 --> 00:37:23.110
a situation where she can give us time to just be and be professional and be

00:37:23.110 --> 00:37:25.970
respected and do what we need to do,

00:37:25.990 --> 00:37:28.230
that is what she's going to let happen.

00:37:28.710 --> 00:37:32.810
And, you know, and that is not the case for many people that I've worked for.

00:37:33.050 --> 00:37:37.450
So I always have to say. So just the idea of you being able to be in school

00:37:37.450 --> 00:37:41.650
without the kids and have some time with your team members and other teachers

00:37:41.650 --> 00:37:44.750
to be able to regroup and plan, that's phenomenal.

00:37:45.370 --> 00:37:48.130
Yes. It makes a huge difference because even though I don't have to work on

00:37:48.130 --> 00:37:52.370
Mondays, I still find myself coming up here for like an hour or two and I'll

00:37:52.370 --> 00:37:53.570
make all my copies for the week

00:37:53.570 --> 00:37:58.570
and get everything graded and get my room reset and feel great about it.

00:37:58.650 --> 00:38:01.570
Because I know are like planning and prep time during the week it just goes by

00:38:01.570 --> 00:38:04.970
so fast especially when you have all the meetings and everything and

00:38:04.970 --> 00:38:07.650
so if i don't get to something one day during conference i'm like

00:38:07.650 --> 00:38:10.870
whatever i'll pop up here on monday it's no big deal or there's

00:38:10.870 --> 00:38:14.590
plenty of mondays i'm like hey we're gonna go to the park and we went to the

00:38:14.590 --> 00:38:17.530
state fair like doing all these different things that i don't have to worry

00:38:17.530 --> 00:38:21.050
about it and so it's just nice being able to know if i have that monday and

00:38:21.050 --> 00:38:24.970
i want to do something i can or i don't be lazy we have a we have a whole other

00:38:24.970 --> 00:38:29.670
episode about to happen because I am sure that the Texas State Fair is delicious.

00:38:30.410 --> 00:38:34.650
And I'm thinking, wow, what a great nod to balance.

00:38:34.690 --> 00:38:38.630
You get an extra day and you get to you're thinking about barbecue.

00:38:38.870 --> 00:38:43.530
Like what fried foods on a stick will there be at the Texas State Fair?

00:38:43.830 --> 00:38:46.030
Like bacon with cotton candy.

00:38:46.936 --> 00:38:49.796
I have seen that on, I have seen that on a show.

00:38:50.176 --> 00:38:54.416
Of course you have. Because I always order the weirdest thing on the menu. Right, Jamie?

00:38:54.776 --> 00:38:57.896
That's 100%. That is always my thing. My husband wants to go see all the new

00:38:57.896 --> 00:39:02.056
cars and I'm like, where's the food? I need a Fletcher's corn dog and leave me alone.

00:39:03.116 --> 00:39:09.236
A Fletcher's corn dog? Yes. It's like a foot long corn dog. I don't, it is so good.

00:39:10.036 --> 00:39:16.136
Best corn dog. I mean, book your flight, girl. Let's do it. Um, yeah, that's awesome.

00:39:16.956 --> 00:39:21.116
But no, it's just so cool that you get to do those things on like a random Monday.

00:39:21.336 --> 00:39:24.016
Because I don't like, you know, we've all taken the mental health day,

00:39:24.196 --> 00:39:28.256
right? We've all taken the day where you take the Monday off or you take the Friday off.

00:39:28.376 --> 00:39:31.916
And whether it's like I when I had little kids, sometimes you just needed to

00:39:31.916 --> 00:39:34.636
like, OK, but drop them off at daycare. I'm going to come home.

00:39:34.776 --> 00:39:36.476
I'm going to finish the things I need to do around the house.

00:39:36.496 --> 00:39:41.096
And I'm going to sit for two hours and watch a movie like and then I'll go pick the kids up at daycare.

00:39:41.236 --> 00:39:45.016
And yeah, you feel guilty about, you know, oh, I didn't spend the time with

00:39:45.016 --> 00:39:46.956
them. But at the same time, you're also paying for the daycare.

00:39:47.116 --> 00:39:49.516
So if they don't go, you're not using it.

00:39:49.836 --> 00:39:54.296
So, and we paid more in daycare than I, the first year, because it was twins,

00:39:54.436 --> 00:39:58.276
of course, that we, that my wife and I paid combined for like our first two

00:39:58.276 --> 00:40:00.196
years of college. Like it was, it's insane.

00:40:01.476 --> 00:40:03.196
But even like the fact that,

00:40:04.103 --> 00:40:08.523
people in the community have options, right? They get their calendar early enough

00:40:08.523 --> 00:40:11.363
in advance where like, then you could go to the gymnastics class,

00:40:11.363 --> 00:40:15.543
which I'm sure is not this absorbent amount of money. No.

00:40:16.083 --> 00:40:19.643
Yeah. I'm assuming very cheap, especially because they let a lot of kids into it.

00:40:19.743 --> 00:40:23.903
And so I want to say it was like $25. I signed my kit for a couple of times

00:40:23.903 --> 00:40:27.183
on the days that I had to go to work and they were so excited.

00:40:27.323 --> 00:40:28.263
They loved it. They loved it.

00:40:28.603 --> 00:40:31.383
That's such a smart part of the community too for those

00:40:31.383 --> 00:40:34.203
businesses because what else would they have been

00:40:34.203 --> 00:40:36.803
they wouldn't be yeah they're normally open in the

00:40:36.803 --> 00:40:39.623
day right and then and then you get courtney's yeah then

00:40:39.623 --> 00:40:42.303
you get courtney's daughter or son that really likes it and then they

00:40:42.303 --> 00:40:45.243
want to go to classes there like that that you know that's also a smart thing

00:40:45.243 --> 00:40:49.623
to do or art classes or woodworking or whatever it is like i think like any

00:40:49.623 --> 00:40:55.523
of that stuff would be awesome um but no that's definitely a like do you feel

00:40:55.523 --> 00:40:59.583
or find that that this district that you're working in i don't know i don't

00:40:59.583 --> 00:41:00.723
know I don't know if you know the answer to this question,

00:41:00.823 --> 00:41:03.223
but like, are they getting more people to apply for jobs?

00:41:03.383 --> 00:41:07.263
Like, are there are there people like I don't want to say beating down the door,

00:41:07.423 --> 00:41:09.683
but there are more people that want to work in your district than,

00:41:09.703 --> 00:41:13.503
say, in other districts that are a five day work week because of the advantages? For sure.

00:41:14.183 --> 00:41:19.383
Since they they pay similar to a lot of the bigger districts around us. And so.

00:41:20.127 --> 00:41:23.567
That combined with the four-day week, the second I got a job here,

00:41:23.947 --> 00:41:28.247
my messages were being blown up of people like, if you know of an opening, let me know.

00:41:28.347 --> 00:41:30.987
Or if you find anything, let me know. My mom was the same way.

00:41:31.127 --> 00:41:36.287
We worked in the same district together, the previous district I came from that I did not like.

00:41:36.607 --> 00:41:40.447
She ended up not liking the district so much. She ended up leaving mid-year.

00:41:40.907 --> 00:41:43.767
And that's wild to me because my mom has never wanted to quit anything.

00:41:43.767 --> 00:41:46.707
But she was so drained and beat up from working there.

00:41:46.727 --> 00:41:50.387
She's like, I can't. And so she stepped away, got a job at a local college,

00:41:50.387 --> 00:41:55.627
and then a job happened to open up mid-year within the same district.

00:41:55.627 --> 00:41:58.087
And I was like, Mom, go now, apply.

00:41:58.347 --> 00:42:02.007
And so she jumped in there and got a job. And she's the same way I am.

00:42:02.107 --> 00:42:06.767
She's obsessed with it. She likes to craft. So that Monday, she is spending her day crafting.

00:42:07.087 --> 00:42:11.127
Her and my dad get to go camping all the time. And so every single time there's

00:42:11.127 --> 00:42:12.707
an opening, immediately my phone

00:42:12.707 --> 00:42:15.647
is blowing up. Like, put me down as a reference. Please get me in there.

00:42:16.127 --> 00:42:21.087
That's great. And it's also awesome that, that you, there's a lot of teachers

00:42:21.087 --> 00:42:23.287
that, that don't do what you did.

00:42:23.327 --> 00:42:27.567
Like you realized like where, where your worth was like, Hey,

00:42:27.687 --> 00:42:29.907
like I really, I really like doing this.

00:42:30.007 --> 00:42:32.807
I'm assuming you liked doing it. That's why you go into the career. Right.

00:42:33.067 --> 00:42:35.567
But then once you're in there, you're like, Oh, I don't see,

00:42:35.647 --> 00:42:38.487
I don't know how I can do this for X 20, 30 years.

00:42:38.687 --> 00:42:42.727
And then, and stay in it. And some people decide, well, I'm just going to stay.

00:42:42.987 --> 00:42:46.287
And then they get jaded and angry and they stay there. and then they're stuck.

00:42:47.207 --> 00:42:50.787
But I'm glad, I'm glad that you had the wherewithal to like look and say like,

00:42:50.847 --> 00:42:54.487
you know what? I think I'm going to like move on here. I'm going to try something else.

00:42:54.607 --> 00:42:57.007
Oh, that didn't work. I'm going to try something else. And a lot of people don't

00:42:57.007 --> 00:43:01.807
do that and get stuck and either burn out and get out of the profession completely or like,

00:43:02.465 --> 00:43:06.345
They're in a place where they are just completely unhappy, which is probably even worse.

00:43:06.785 --> 00:43:10.145
So I feel like burnout is so easy as a teacher, because when you start looking

00:43:10.145 --> 00:43:14.785
at your income and like, is this worth it? Is this worth being this stressed every single day?

00:43:14.945 --> 00:43:19.005
So if I wouldn't have gotten a job here, I honestly don't know that I would

00:43:19.005 --> 00:43:20.785
still be in education right now. Yeah.

00:43:21.225 --> 00:43:25.305
And it's and the questions and the noises and the kids and the work.

00:43:25.305 --> 00:43:30.465
Like it's, that's the part I think that, and we've even talked about the idea

00:43:30.465 --> 00:43:34.285
of even if you're not a, if you're not a teacher, you might be married to a

00:43:34.285 --> 00:43:35.945
teacher or a relative of a teacher.

00:43:36.065 --> 00:43:45.665
And people, I think, have a difficult time understanding just how every second of your day is busy.

00:43:46.025 --> 00:43:48.665
Yes, it's never quiet. Never quiet.

00:43:49.825 --> 00:43:53.365
And then you add in being a parent on top of that, especially since my kids

00:43:53.365 --> 00:43:58.325
work at my school. It's never, I don't have that car ride to go pick them up or whatever it may be.

00:43:58.445 --> 00:44:01.885
It's like, they're in the car with me from the morning. We follow ourselves home.

00:44:02.145 --> 00:44:04.845
So I feel like a lot of people just struggle with that. It's always the,

00:44:05.425 --> 00:44:10.405
oh, I could never do what you do, but then must be nice. You have summers off.

00:44:10.545 --> 00:44:13.325
I'm like, guys, I don't think y'all understand how hard I worked to get this

00:44:13.325 --> 00:44:18.905
summer to have time where no one's touching me, talking to me, calling my name.

00:44:18.905 --> 00:44:25.265
I wish that instead of jury duty, it was subbing that people were required to

00:44:25.265 --> 00:44:26.905
come in. Oh, that's been talked about. Yeah.

00:44:27.345 --> 00:44:31.145
That'd be awesome. The tune would change so fast. I know.

00:44:31.669 --> 00:44:35.109
Well, you heard it here from Courtney, Joe, and me.

00:44:35.549 --> 00:44:39.709
Four-day work weeks for all. Yeah, let's do it. Yes. Yeah.

00:44:40.569 --> 00:44:43.809
So, Courtney, thank you very much for being willing to join us.

00:44:44.429 --> 00:44:48.649
Yours. Again, this was your first podcast, so we hope you didn't ruin it for you.

00:44:49.529 --> 00:44:53.149
But, no, you were great, and I really appreciate your candor and your honesty

00:44:53.149 --> 00:44:54.669
in telling us about this.

00:44:54.749 --> 00:44:57.029
Because we've been wanting to have somebody on who works in a four-day school

00:44:57.029 --> 00:45:00.649
week district, and we're glad you're able to kind of tell us about it.

00:45:00.649 --> 00:45:05.349
Maybe, you know, it's something that's not, yeah, I mean, there are other districts around the country.

00:45:05.629 --> 00:45:08.769
It's not just Texas. It's Colorado. It's, it's others that are,

00:45:08.989 --> 00:45:13.649
that are making the switch and it might be a discussion in larger school districts

00:45:13.649 --> 00:45:17.549
like ours, uh, you know, on the East coast eventually. For sure.

00:45:17.929 --> 00:45:22.889
Just kind of just send the podcast to them. Just like send it to the superintendent

00:45:22.889 --> 00:45:26.269
and be like, Hey, listen to this, please. I'll get right on that.

00:45:28.449 --> 00:45:33.509
So Jamie, you have anything you want to add? I do. I, you know, we are sponsored.

00:45:33.869 --> 00:45:36.829
So season three is brought to you by our presenting sponsor,

00:45:36.969 --> 00:45:38.169
Teachers Insurance Plan.

00:45:38.369 --> 00:45:41.289
Check out their website for more information and to get a quote,

00:45:41.709 --> 00:45:45.569
Teachers Insurance Plan, auto insurance that brings exclusive educator savings

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and exceptional customer care to New Jersey and Pennsylvania educational employees.

00:45:51.309 --> 00:45:53.629
And swag. Okay. And swag.

00:45:54.509 --> 00:45:59.129
Courtney and Joe, thank you so much, Courtney, for being here. I appreciate you both.

00:45:59.749 --> 00:46:03.089
Yep. Thank you very much. This was fun. Jamie, appreciate you.

00:46:03.229 --> 00:46:04.289
Courtney, I appreciate you as well.

00:46:04.689 --> 00:46:08.809
Okay, we'll see everybody next time on the Balancing Act podcast. Bye. Bye.