Teachers are chronically overworked and underpaid. Despite this, they’re often still expected to stock their classrooms with supplies out of their own pockets.
Expecting them to use their own money to pay for a field trip is totally extra, though.
OP’s administration said they were supposed to take their kids to the zoo – and pay for it, too.
I’m a teacher. I taught a class of 18 kids back in 2017. The curriculum changed near the end of the school year and it was expected for the kids to visit the zoo.
Admin told me that since their budget was created at the start of the year, they wouldn’t pay for the entrance fees and that I would have to pay out-of-pocket for all 18 kids.
They also requested that I take pictures for their school Facebook page.
The cost was pretty high, so OP took them to a petting zoo instead.
I love my students, but I love my savings too, not as much as my students but still. I couldn’t justify spending over €360 on a single, non-tangible thing.
So, I took the kids down to local farmer Pete’s farm. All Pete asked for was a 5 euro donation per person, and that too was voluntary. I put down a €50 note for old Pete and showed the kids exotic animals like cattle, sheep, goats and chickens.
Best outcome? Administration did not get the pretty pictures they wanted for Facebook.
A few weeks later, I was approached by admin, they asked me for the photos. I gladly emailed it to them, with a subject title of ‘Petting Zoo Pictures’.
I got an email back simply saying that my conduct was not exemplary. No reprimand, no written up warning, but no photos for admin too.
The kids enjoyed it though.
Oops.
People from Canada are just confused.
I guess the money has to come from somewhere.
Every time we learn something new about teaching we hate it.
Back in my day…
It’s a sad state of affairs.
This is honestly a win/win.
She didn’t break the bank and the kids had a good time.
Thought that was satisfying? Check out what this employee did when their manager refused to pay for their time while they were traveling for business.