Episode 4: Education is Awesome!

Principal JL: 0:59

Educational Leadership with Principal JL. This is episode four. Education is awesome. I am so happy to be back doing this podcast. It's been like about been about over a year since I've done my last podcast. So I've had a lot of things happen in my life that I'm ready to share with you guys. I accepted a new building principal job, so I got really busy with that. I was at a larger district, so I had a lot of going on. But with that, those experiences have brought on a lot of different things that I've seen in education, which now I think I'm ready to get back in the game and start talking about, you know, some of those things. So now I'm looking at, you know, I have a lot of things that go through my head about education in general, and I would like to share my thoughts with you. And so I'm hoping to have some more podcasts in the future here soon. I wrote down like at least eight or nine different topics that I could talk about right off the top of my head. But this one's really dedicated for education and is awesome. It's a great career, it's a great place to be. Right now, you hear a lot about, you know, teacher shortage, people don't want to go into education, it's too tough. You know, you have to deal with all these different things in education, which we'll talk about. I mean, there are things out there in education you got to deal with, which is fine, but you have to have a little bit of perspective on it. Because I think a lot of people they know education based off of their experiences as a student a lot of the time. And when all you have is, hey, I grew up and I went to a school and that's all of your experiences, is that's very my you know, small portion of what education is. So education is awesome. I mean, you hear in the media that, oh man, you know, all these bad things about education, but really it's not as bad as they want you to seem make it appear to be, honestly. So, really honestly, with education, you know, into my experience, I've worked outside of education. I mean, I was 28 years old when I got my first teaching job. So I had some experiences outside. So it gives me a unique perspective of different things that you know make education a great career and a great place to be. Because there's a lot of things that I'm gonna talk about today that you may or may not know about education. You might be inspired to become an educator, which is great. That's kind of the whole purpose of why education is great. I'm gonna be someone out there saying, hey, you should be an educator, you should be in teaching because hey, we need great people. And when we can do that, we can achieve a lot of great things together. So with me working outside of education, I mean worked growing up in fast food places, grocery stores. You know, I joined the military. I was in the military for eight years, have a lot of different work experiences that way. Um, I also worked in a factory, so I know what the daily grind is. In a factory, you're working five, six, sometimes seven days a week. I mean, the time and a half's great and everything, but my goodness, you have no life when that happens. So therefore, I've worked that daily grind where you get only this the basic holidays, you know, off, and you know, you have to wait a year before you get vacation time or education. You have to wait a year to get vacation time. You get it right up front. So there's a lot of great things. So why education, right? The number I think one of the main reasons why people get an education, it's not for the money. I mean, some people mean, you know, you know, they look at education, which is like, yeah, I don't pay very much. But actually, if you think about it, it's actually not bad. Some people might think that uh, hey, you're you're underselling us, but you know what? You're doing okay compared to different jobs out there. Education is a pretty good gig. So think about it. I mean, you're in education, a lot of teachers are here for the right reasons because they want to impact kids, they want to help kids learn and grow. And I think that's one of the biggest reasons why people get into it. Like love watching students learn something, take something that that teacher has learned, and go be successful with it. And so that's a lot of why I'm in it. But I also get to learn not just students learn and grow, but I also get to help teachers learn and grow, which is fantastic as well. There's a lot of opportunities in education for advancement where people don't really understand that. I mean, you have a pace, skill, salary, schedule, and if you look at it, the more education you get on top of your bachelor's, the more money you can make. The longer you're in education, the more money you make. I mean, it's a pretty good setup. So you kind of know from year to year where you're at, and you can plan things. So the other thing is, is there's leadership opportunities, you know, teacher leadership such as school improvement team or PBAS team or you know, any committee that you may have, get on it because you're gonna build leadership skills. You know, different size schools, depending on what they have, may have a head of department, and that's another good teacher leadership opportunity. A lot of times those opportunities they become assistant principals if they want to get out of the classroom, and which you can have, you know, an impact there. But then that also leads people up into becoming a building principal. So there is advancements opportunities, there is ways to have a career to where you're being successful, you're advancing, you're making more money. A lot of people make pretty good money in education when they're all said and done. So some things to think about. Now, pay a little bit. Now I'm talking about Nebraska, so that's where my most of my experience has been. So in Nebraska, initial teacher pay, depending on the district, because it's all local and control, you're anywhere from $35,000 to $39,000 a year to start off, like fresh out of college, just got your degree. I mean, that's that's where you're gonna start. Now, you can make more money by coaching, you can make more money by going back to school and getting a master's or anything that's continuous education is uh also a bonus. A lot of you know, most school districts in Nebraska have that salary schedule set up that way. Of course, let's say if you're moving from one district to another, then teach then districts start to look at, hey, how many years of experience you've got? Where do you fall on our pay scale? You may move from a school district that doesn't pay as well as another one, and a lot of the teachers will move over to this school district because they pay more and they want to get more money for what they do. So, I mean, that happens quite a bit. So that's also those are some really good benefits there when it comes to like pay. Now think about the pay. Pay, you get paid 12 months out of the year. Now, you can take a nine-month paycheck, but I wouldn't recommend it. So a lot of these teachers, they get a 12-month paycheck so they know what they're getting month after month after month. Now, one of the downsides, you only get paid once a month, but at the same time, you learn the budget that you learn how to live with getting paid once a month. Now, you also get that time off later, but we'll talk about that in a little bit. Some other benefits are your pay raises are more than likely gonna happen a year, every year, because there's a negotiated team that the school district works with, and a lot of times it's represented by an education association. I'm gonna let you in on a little secret. You do not have to be a part of the education association to get the pay raise. Um, they'll negotiate that for you. But the education association for some people is worth it, some people don't think it's worth it. It just depends on your preference on that. In Nebraska, I'm not too worried about that because most teachers are treated pretty well, and we have a really good system here in Nebraska, which I'd recommend if you're from out of state, come to Nebraska. We have a pretty good, pretty good education system here. Also, some things that you may not know in Nebraska, a lot of school districts will pay for your health, your dental, your vision. Now, mainly maybe your health and dental, and you might have to get into a group for vision, but that's very minimal cost. And so, you know, you're looking at a lot of school districts pay for that as a benefit for you come. So if you're looking at, you know, starting off at $35,000, but you get a $25,000 benefit for insurance, I mean, you could be, you know, that's worth $40,000, that's worth $60,000 right there. You know, so think about that. When those school districts are paying those benefits like that, you're actually getting more than that $35,000 because you're not paying for that insurance. And a lot of these districts will do that. Now, some districts don't. Some districts make their teachers pay, but some districts may make them not, may not pay them as much as they would, but some districts may pay more. So when you're looking at jobs and you're looking at beingcome an educator, looking at what the district's benefits are, how they work is super important. Because that's very important to understand so you know what you're getting into before you accept a job. And a lot of teachers will look for that benefit because it's super important. All educators do. And I'll tell you where I'm at, we got a pretty good benefit package for our educators as well. Now, the cool thing is you get that benefit right away when you start. Now, another thing is growing up, retirement plan, never had one, even thought of one, you know, wasn't growing up in that mindset to have a retirement plan. Well, the nice thing about education is they kind of force you into one, which is fine. Like if I didn't get forced into a retirement plan, I wouldn't have one. But Nebraska, most retirement plans work this way. So Nebraska, they take seven point or sorry, they take nine point seven eight percent of your pay off your gross pay, and they set that into your retirement account. Now, a lot of districts will match that retirement, which is great. So some districts will, some districts may not match as much as others, but it's there. The nice thing about this retirement plan is they will take your three-year average, and so every year you get two percent. So let's say you work 30 years in education, and let's say your three-year average was $100,000. I like using round numbers, and so your retirement would be $60,000 a year for the rest of your life. I mean, that's a pretty good retirement plan for educators. Now, of course, the longer you're into it, the more advancement you get, the more money you make. I mean, there's money to be made in education, which is great. Now, some people go, well, people are in education because they get more time off. Well, true, but they deserve it, I'm telling you. Educators work hard. During that school year, they're grinding, they're working hard, and guess what? Most educators work in the summer too. They're still doing their education job, but they might have time to get a side gig. And so a lot of educators do get that side gig. So you're looking at, you know, let's say, you know, an educator in the classroom, a teacher looking 180, 210 days in a school year for them that work, you know, make their money. So they get some time off a little bit to where they get all their holidays, they get all their breaks. I mean, it's a pretty good set setup for them. For anybody in education, honestly. So most of your like eighties or your AP, not eighties, but APs, your assistant principals, and some elementary principals here, they sit around that 225-day contract where they get not as much time as the teacher off in the summer, but they still can do some side gigs and do some different things outside of education as well. Now, when you start going up the ladder, like where in my case, I'm a building principal, my AD is this way, where we have a 260-day contract where, hey, I'm back to maybe my eight federal holidays, but I don't get the time off as like teachers and you know, maybe my APs would get because I'm working year-round, but I also get paid more, so it all balances out. So it's really important to kind of understand how those things are structured in education. And honestly, the time off is pretty great because you can plan vacations easier, you can you get time to decompress, you know, do self-care, all those different things where if you're working a factory job, you ain't getting that. It's just not happening. If you're grinding out at a factory job six, seven days a week, you know, how are you not gonna have as much time to enjoy the money you're gonna make in that situation. But a lot of teachers and educators get side gazed. They'll maybe start a small business like a lawn mowing service, a roofing company, painting services. I mean, there's a lot of different things. Right now I have some educators that are working at a department store that are getting ready to head out after we hit the you know semester here, and they'll get off to our their summer break and they'll have time to go work another job where they're making more money on top of the money they're already getting. So, I mean, how many other jobs will you be able to do that where you can have your regular education job on top of side gigs? So that's another phenomenal part of why education is awesome, to be honest with you. A lot of people are in education because for the right reasons. I mean, there's some people out there you kind of wonder why are you in education, really? But at the same time, most people, I'd say 95, 98% of the time, are in it for the right reason. And it's because they want to be something bigger than themselves. They want to help other people, they want to be a part of a team, they want to collaborate, they want to work with other people, and they enjoy it. They enjoy it. Now, there's times when this job is stressful, it sucks. I mean, when you're dealing with, you know, student issues and parent issues and you know, things happen, you know, on a daily, that it's gonna happen. But that's also working with, you know, kids that can be anywhere from five years old all the way up to 18, 19, you know, 21 years old in some cases, you're gonna have your ups and downs. But in the end, you go through a school year, you get time to rejuvenate for the next school year. It's not like you're just constantly going, going, going. Like when you're in the job and you're doing the job and it's the school year time, yeah, you're going, you're working, you're getting that job done. But a lot of the time, it's knowing that they're making a difference, that they are knowing that they're there for a greater purpose. So watching kids learn, grow, and go, it's super important. And then when you get to my position as an educational leader, I don't love just watching teachers or students grow. I love watching teachers grow, and I think that's super important to have that mindset of growth mindset and watching people do their thing because my thing as a building principal, I want everybody to be successful. But guess what? I can't do it by myself. I need everybody's help to do that. But the thing is, we work as a team, we're gonna you know be successful as a team. Well, there you have it. Those are my reasons why education is awesome. Now, I plan on doing some more podcast episodes. They're gonna be shorter, like 10-15 minutes long. They're gonna be more focused, dedicated on you know, some things that I'm thinking about when it comes to education, some various topics that I'll have come up throughout my time as an educator. I'd just like to share those experiences with you guys, and then hopefully you guys will share some of your experiences with me. And if you want to share some experiences with me, you can email me at the.principal.jl at gmail.com. I'd also like to hear and you see any comments or any reviews or ratings you like to give me. I'd like to take only five star, please, only five star ratings would be great. But at the same time, I just want to hear back, see what your feedback is, what I could do better. Maybe there's a topic you want me to talk about based off of experiences I've had. But hey, this is Principal JL signing off. I'll see you guys next time in a really appreciate.