What Crazy Things Do Teachers Get Up to With Their Summers Off? Shockingly, Nothing Very Shocking.
THE FXBG ADVANCE FRIDAY 7/24/26 MORNING READ
By James Noll, GUEST COLUMNIST
Everybody complains about their job. Overbearing managers. Unrealistic workloads. Annoying co-workers. Most, when hearing a friend kvetch about work, commiserate. But when educators do it, we’re often met with one of the following standard canards:
“Remember your why.”
“Teachers are in it for the outcome, not the income.”
“Must be nice having summers off.”
And finally, “You knew what you were signing up for.”
Let’s focus on the last one first.
In financial terms, the bargain offered to most teachers looks something like this: In exchange for a salary lower than other professional positions, we’ll enjoy guaranteed yearly raises. (How much lower? According to an article in the Economic Policy Institute, approximately 27 percent.) Worry not! For an insultingly small stipend, teachers can coach or sponsor a club. In 24 or so years, they could earn up to $88,000 a year (depending on the county). Unless a recession or a pandemic strikes, and the steps are frozen—something recruiters don’t include in their offer.
So, no. Teachers don’t know what we’re signing up for.
Nobody should reasonably expect educators to live in penury out of kindness and dedication to an ideal. “Remember your why” might make an inspiring line in a movie, but it doesn’t cover a car payment. When the promise of a fair wage evaporates, teachers have few options. We can leave the profession (and many do), we can take on side gigs, or, rather than sipping daiquiris while lounging by the pool, we can spend their summers working.
Must be nice having summers off, right?
Teaching summer school is the easiest and most accessible recourse. Districts offer a variety of programs at all levels, from pre-school to high school. I’ve taught summer school three times in my 24-year career: two credit recovery classes and one for students trying to get ahead (or catch up).
The rules on paper are strict. If students fight, they are expelled. Refusing to do the work, however, is generally tolerated. All teachers have to do is notify admin and the parents or guardians.
If a student is absent more than three times, they are expelled. Three class tardies equals an absence. This is generally followed, too, but I’ve experienced admin who, when a student reached the limit, said “Let’s give the kid a break.”
Each day is broken down into four one-and-a-half hour blocks. There is no planning period, unless the 20-minute lunch counts. The last year I taught summer school, I had to include a half day of the county’s online credit recovery program (IYKYK), so I reserved blocks 2 and 4 for that. More recently, I’ve heard that summer school is all online. Students complete their learning modules while the teacher resets quizzes and tests.
The summer school experience used to be moderately valid. Students barely put any effort into their work during the year. Over the summer, that didn’t change much. Now that summer school is primarily an online multiple choice guess game, it provides little to no value at all, though interestingly enough, I learned a lot when I taught it. Because of the abbreviated course structure, I culled my lessons and tightened everything up. It helped me hone my instruction for the regular school year.
The pay for taking on a summer school class is, unsurprisingly, low. Many counties offer a flat fee that is usually well below what a teacher normally makes. Given the amount of stress and possible burnout that extra month or month and a half in the classroom creates, it isn’t worth it. If anything, it’s just another example of how the community preys on the goodwill of its educators, expecting them to perform a job everyone supposedly values while actively undervaluing the people performing the job.
So what crazy shenanigans do teachers get up to over the summer? If we’re not trying to earn more money to make up for our low wages, probably not a lot.
We can’t afford it.
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James Noll is a writer, musician, and (of course) teacher. He lives in Fredericksburg, Virginia. You can reach him at www.silverhammerstudio.com.
