Thank You for your Tues 4/9 Vote

[Christine Engelbrecht]

Dear LAPS Board Members,

Thank you for your comments and vote for a calendar that provides staff with 195 contract days at last night's school board meeting. Thank you for asking questions about the number of LAPS staff members currently carrying NMPSIA insurance and examining the impacts of our insurance increases. Thank you for making the hard call to prioritize equity, ensuring that ALL staff members will make as much or more money in the 24-25 school year as they did this year, over personal preferences for a shorter school year that would have resulted in a contract with fewer paid days for staff.   

I understand the perspective of those staff members who wanted a shorter school year. Despite shortening the school year seeming like an appealing solution, there are other ways to address teacher burnout that grows with every additional task and duty directly assigned by an administrator or willingly absorbed by the teacher without cutting much needed income. Administrators can take other steps to alleviate or prevent burnout among their staff: review staff members' extra duties to determine necessity and evenness, preserve teachers' prep time to minimize the need to grade and prep at home, reduce or balance class sizes to regulate each teacher's grading work load, and review the purpose and frequency of staff and department meetings, paring back where possible. 

Again, I appreciate your leadership and support for the staff members who rely on LAPS for a steady income and benefits.

Thank you,

Christine Engelbrecht

Christine Anne Engelbrecht, M.Ed., NBCT