Leaving Las Vegas

The title for this post is an analogy that says it all... 

Much like Vegas, JDSs present their illusion as a reality, enticing people to risk their hard earned money on the promise that their bet will pay dividends. In reality, the house always wins and what happens at a JDS stays at the JDS. 

It is for this final reason that I’ve decided to share this post. 

Too often, when I share with people that I am leaving the JDS world they talk about how important my work is to the Jewish people and attempt to dissuade me from my decision. Unfortunately, many of these people have no idea what it means to be a day school educator.

In this post, I will focus only on the financial aspect of being a JDS teacher…

• Last year I made $60K teaching six classes at a local JDS.

• Two of my children attended the school so, while I received the maximum financial aid allowed by the school’s bylaws (40%), about $25k went straight back to the school.

• In opting for the “subsidized” benefits offered by the school, I paid $1500 in monthly premiums ($15K/year) to ensure that all members of my family had coverage and could see a doctor when/if necessary.

• I also opted to set aside some of my earnings for a potential retirement and, of course, I had to pay my taxes.

I’m not sure exactly how much I took home at the end of the day, but I do know that the money we had set aside for a kitchen renovation was depleted by the end of the year.

Keep in mind that I am a Jewish educator with over 20 years of experience in the JDS world, hold a masters degree in education and also have rabbinic ordination, so my salary is/was/should have been at the higher end of what the school pays its teachers.

The situation was made even worse by the fact that the school did not offer me a contract for the next year and did not inform me of the decision until I asked about their intentions a week before new contracts were set to be given out. 

This last straw was a bit of divine intervention, as it forced me to deal with the financial realities involved in being a JDS educator.

Again, I share this because most JDS parents do not know this reality and believe that their tuition dollars and donations provide are, in part, used to provide a dignified existence for their children's teachers. 

Unfortunately, that is far from the truth.

So I am breaking the taboo and talking about what most will not talk about, hoping for change in the way we treat our teachers by putting our money where our mouth is and paying JDS educators (especially qualified ones) according the respect we supposedly have for them and what they do.