I wanted to talk about another teacher hot button topic: duty.
Before I do so, however, I am taking a poll to get a general feel of how everyone else functions. For those non-teachers, duty can be extra work around the school either before or after normal contract hours, and/or, during the day in place of an off period or a break. Generally, in my neck of the woods, it is not optional and receives no extra compensation.
Feel free to comment below and let me know your thoughts on the subject, how your school applies the process, if it works/doesn’t, etc. I’m withholding my thoughts for the moment so I can hear some of yours.
Please take the poll and look out for my new blog on this topic coming soon! Thanks!
marvelous teacher musings 
I think teachers should not have to do any “extra duties”. I taught for 35 years and have had bus duty (before and after school), recess (sometimes twice a day), lunch duty,and after school ( till parents came to pick up their child). I always thought it wrong and when I asked about it, the admin said it was perfectly legal as my contract did not state specific times. I have also had to take tickets at games or supervise kids in the stands. The teachers split out all the duties so you only have 4-5 duties a week. We have to sign up for at least 3 games per football,basketball, etc. If you had recess duty you had 20 minutes to eat,use the bathroom and get your mail. Loved the recess duty in fall and spring but hated it in the winter and late summer.
I agree it seems unfair to add duties. But if not we, who know & care about the kids, then who?
Do kids have lunch; come, go, & wait for buses without adult attention & supervision? And what are the coconsequences?
Does the school, with a budget already tighter than a hooker’s dress, cut yet another item?
Does the school depend on volunteers to show up consistently in sufficient numbers to ensure safety & order?
Does the school stop after-school games/activities due to lack of adult iinterest?
In a perfect world, educators would be paid according to the actual hours invested in the ancillary duties involved in teaching & caring for the overall wellbeing of our kids while they are on school property (loonngg sentence, I know).I used “invested” because that’s the way I see the time we spend on duties: time spent learning about our kids, showing them we care about more than just their grade in our class. The result of that invinvestment is the relationship we build
with them, the trust they come to have in us.
I worked in a Title I school. At first I resented the extra drain on my time caused by “duties.” But it soon became clear that, for some kids, that extra time was invaluable-for both of us. I know this is not the norm, but I like to believe it could be.