I’m a teacher and today I had a meeting with my principal. I’m the team lead, which means I go to meetings when needed and bring back information to my team. I also help them out when needed with things we’re supposed to do, like report cards, lesson plans, how to access the curriculum guides, etc. We have a pretty new team except for myself and one other veteran teacher, but she struggles with anything that has to do with technology. For this I get an extra $38 every two weeks, a little over an hour’s worth of my time. I do more than an extra hour’s worth every two weeks. When I met with my principal today she made a comment about how my grade is a bit of a hot mess. (This is largely due to the fact that even though we’re supposed to have a certain amount of time to plan per day, that time is NOT honored. Every one of my team members puts in WAY more time than what they’re paid for.) She then brought up the fact that I’m not one to stay late (implying that as lead I should be staying to help my team, which the lead from last year did), but she doesn’t have a problem with that. Why is there even a need to mention that you’re ok with me leaving when I’m supposed to?! Why are any of us expected to work for free?! Especially after not getting a pay increase for several years now (we’re supposed to get a bump in pay every 3 years) or a cost of living increase. I am beyond done with getting to school early and staying late. Because I do get a little extra for being team leader I don’t mind spending some time at home typing up my lesson plans for my team or giving up my planning occasionally if it helps my team, but I’m not getting to school an hour early and staying until 5:00. If it doesn’t get done during my paid hours, oh well. The sad thing is, as long as other teachers continue to work past their contracted time to get things done we will never get our pay increase because we have nothing to bargain with. Sometimes I feel like I’m living in a bizarro world where everyone else is ok with working for free and I’m the weird one for expecting to be paid for my time.