Is that the light at the end of the tunnel? (O.T. Thread)

[MWil23]

53 minutes ago, LETSGOBROWNIES said:

Oh I saw this yesterday and never got around to it @MWil23

wtf are we doing here?!? 😂   She’s 17 years older than Schumer’s old arse!!!  Almost a teenager when WW2 ended.  31 when the civic rights act was passed…

tell me this person is representative of our current populace and truly understands what people 4-5 generations younger than her (zoomers and alphas) are experiencing.

She looks spry…

[big poppa pump]

3 hours ago, LETSGOBROWNIES said:

I mean, there’s a bit of a contradiction here depending on what you mean.  You say you can’t fix it with money but acknowledge that poverty is the driver behind it….

Now I’ll admit just handing people money isn’t a fix, it’s certainly more complex than that, but money is largely the issue.  We need good paying CAREERS, not just jobs, with benefits, etc.  People need to be able to attain a reasonable standard of living.  
 

People with something to lose are much less likely to do dumb ish I’d imagine, we need to make sure as many people as possible have those “somethings”.

The bolded is what I was getting at!

[LETSGOBROWNIES]

2 hours ago, NateDawg said:

@LETSGOBROWNIES so in 2021 Columbus reached a record Homicide number of over 200 for the year. There were about 1000 total felonious assaults the city. These would be mostly shootings, stabbings, victims that survived or did not. There was a 1 in 168 chance if you were a Columbus resident, you were a victim of violent crime just that year. So, this would also include some crimes, such as rape, etc. I’m not sure about that sores you included, but that would not seem to be accurate. Granted, a lot of the violent crime is gang on gang, but it certainly spills over. If you find yourself in the wrong area, you are likely to be robbed and/or assaulted. I’m just giving you the best perspective I can. I have talked to too many crying, family members where people have gone through the wrong area or even people who have ended up in seemingly nice areas, where lives have been changed forever. It was bad enough our family uprooted. To each their own though. You are likely to have a nice night if you go hang out in Columbus and not have an issue. I’m not a person that volunteers war stories, etc but I’ve stood over dead pizza delivery drivers, consoled family members whose college student was just driving for late night Waffle House, and dealt with an OSU student who was kidnapped, raped repeatedly, killed, and dumped at a nearby park by a guy on an ankle monitor, when she got done bartending at a ‘nice’ place downtown. These are just some of many examples out there. So, I would not call it a slanted view as much as educated through experience. I have done it for 12 years, eight hours a day, so I see the victimization constantly. I don’t have other major cities across the country to compare it to, I can only speak to Columbus. And I can certainly speak to how the last few years things have only become worse through city politics, the courts, and other factors. 

I appreciate hearing it, thank you.

I didn’t mean to imply your view was off when I said slanted, just that you see exponentially more of it because of your job.  The worst parts of society are a constant and unavoidable part of every working day.

Some awful experiences you’ve described though, truly horrific.

[NateDawg]

2 hours ago, LETSGOBROWNIES said:

I appreciate hearing it, thank you.

I didn’t mean to imply your view was off when I said slanted, just that you see exponentially more of it because of your job.  The worst parts of society are a constant and unavoidable part of every working day.

Some awful experiences you’ve described though, truly horrific.

All good man. I think, as is the case with any profession, the best insight is obtained by experience. I encourage anyone who is interested to go on a ride-along. Not that you I’m sure have time to do that yourself, but I do think a lot of people would have some valuable experience doing that for a shift, seeing what the job looks like, and asking questions to understand why cops do the things they do. And, also, as is the case in any profession, there are always also going to be turds that make everyone else look bad. I can tell you that nobody hates a bad cop more than a good cop. 

[AkronsWitness]

12 hours ago, NateDawg said:

Most of the groups protesting various things are typically not even from Columbus, but extremist groups from all over. Even the extremist BLMs in 2020 downtown who destroyed the city- a lot of them were paid adjutants. Which made the destruction in chaos that much more frustrating. They didn’t even have to live with the consequences. Those groups you named can be similarly categorized, they just chose Columbus to go to. It’s the capital city. As long as I can, remember, these types of groups pop up periodically. Going back a ways, even the KKK made its way to downtown Columbus maybe 20 years ago, before I started in Cbus.  
 

To answer your question in another way, no, I would not recommend I am out in Columbus in general. Not downtown. It used to be a safer place to go. City politics and leadership has destroyed that. There are no consequences for the actions that takes place from the courts, and the Mayor is everything this thread has been discussing but worse. They allow violent offenders to run rampant through the city. They have made it so police no longer are able to be proactive in locking people up without extreme liabilities. Just this past weekend, 10 people were shot overnight, half of them in the short north in one incident. Now, this is mostly gang violence. But this chaos has affected various areas, and there is no regard where the bullets fly, often times shooting people that owe money there on business. Or they are robbing and killing people who aren’t caught up in their world. Go have a nice dinner far from Columbus. That’s what I do. I moved 45 minutes from the city three years ago and commute to work every day and haven’t regretted it a single day since I did it.

Side note, but if you own a Kia or Hyundai, definitely don’t park it in Columbus, because one of these juveniles is bound to steal it. 

Good to know thanks for the info. Its crazy that when I moved down here in 2016 we would go out in the Short North, arena district, brewery district to Brew Dog/Land Grant and even in Olde Towne East ALL the time for years up until the pandemic shut everything down. Nothing ever happened. We were never worried and didnt even think about something happening. I actually remember thinking how great Columbus was because you could go almost anywhere downtown and feel safe/clean after dark--its WILD to think it has essentially turned into downtown Cleveland after 9pm now.

Since the pandemic in 2020 we havent gone out a single time and we just bought a new house all the way up by Alum Creek in northern Lewis Center. We always said how much it sucks to be 35 mins from downtown now, but with a kid we rarely go out anyways. Good to know from your experience its probably going to stay that way. Ill keep it around uptown Powell and Polaris from now on if we do

Edited May 11, 2023 by AkronsWitness

[MWil23]

Our math, English, Science and social studies departments are all losing a position at the high school but yet we are adding 4 brand new administrative supervisory positions in our district. “Why are teachers leaving?”

[LETSGOBROWNIES]

1 hour ago, MWil23 said:

Our math, English, Science and social studies departments are all losing a position at the high school but yet we are adding 4 brand new administrative supervisory positions in our district. “Why are teachers leaving?”

Pretty soon they’ll need to add a senior admin supervisor to manage the new admin supervisors.

[MWil23]

48 minutes ago, LETSGOBROWNIES said:

Pretty soon they’ll need to add a senior admin supervisor to manage the new admin supervisors.

I posted a question about exit interviews in WAYTA. I’m at a loss. Not that it matters but I was a finalist for teacher of the year and I’m leaving, so who knows whether or not I have anything of gravitas to say that will be taken seriously.

[LETSGOBROWNIES]

2 minutes ago, MWil23 said:

I posted a question about exit interviews in WAYTA. I’m at a loss. Not that it matters but I was a finalist for teacher of the year and I’m leaving, so who knows whether or not I have anything of gravitas to say that will be taken seriously.

If I had to guess I’d assume the person who’s doing the exit interview has no pull to make any significant changes.

I always just suggest being honest but to a point.  Who knows how life plays out and maybe you’ll want to return.  I’d prefer to leave all my bridges left intact and in good order unless I’m 1000% sure I’d never return. In that case I’d go out in a blaze of glory.

[MWil23]

14 minutes ago, LETSGOBROWNIES said:

If I had to guess I’d assume the person who’s doing the exit interview has no pull to make any significant changes.

I always just suggest being honest but to a point.  Who knows how life plays out and maybe you’ll want to return.  I’d prefer to leave all my bridges left intact and in good order unless I’m 1000% sure I’d never return. In that case I’d go out in a blaze of glory.

I prefaced everything with “I don’t want to burn any bridges”. LOL

[LETSGOBROWNIES]

3 minutes ago, MWil23 said:

I prefaced everything with “I don’t want to burn any bridges”. LOL

Then they most likely either know the issue and don’t care or don’t have the ability to fix them as it’s coming from above them.

Be polite, tell them the issues high level, thank them for the opportunity and move on.

[AkronsWitness]

On 5/15/2023 at 6:46 AM, MWil23 said:

Our math, English, Science and social studies departments are all losing a position at the high school but yet we are adding 4 brand new administrative supervisory positions in our district. “Why are teachers leaving?”

My wife is leaving teaching too as well as 2-3 others at her school. The cost of daycare basically means she is working for free and 75% of her paycheck goes to paying the daycare bills. Thats only with 1 kid too, imaging having 2 in daycare and a $2,500 bill every month. 

So, she is now quitting her 1st grade job and being a stay at home mom along with a few others at her school. The principal asked what they can do to get her to stay (because she is very highly regarded as a teacher in the school) and she said 'I need 65k'. They said no lol

SO! Last day of work in June 5th and she is going to tutor elementary school kids on the side for extra cash 2-3 days a week for an few hours.

and we wonder why the education system in this country blows. There is zero incentive to put yourself in 100k+ of student loan debt to become a teacher and the warm fuzzy 'I just love to work with kids' feeling goes out the window once you realize you get paid as much as a trash man.

Edited May 16, 2023 by AkronsWitness

[MWil23]

6 minutes ago, AkronsWitness said:

My wife is leaving teaching too as well as 2-3 others at her school. The cost of daycare basically means she is working for free and 75% of her paycheck goes to paying the daycare bills. Thats only with 1 kid too, imaging having 2 in daycare and a $2,500 bill every month. 

So, she is now quitting her 1st grade job and being a stay at home mom along with a few others at her school. The principal asked what they can do to get her to stay (because she is very highly regarded as a teacher in the school) and she said 'I need 65k'. They said no lol

SO! Last day of work in June 5th and she is going to tutor elementary school kids on the side for extra cash 2-3 days a week for an few hours.

Per my post(s) with @LETSGOBROWNIES last week, this sums up so much. 

My wife left teaching to be a stay at home mom and we have zero regrets with it. She was able to WFH doing some things like tutoring/other stuff here and there and we pocketed what she made as opposed to shelling out money for childcare.

Her and another teacher back in the day pitched a job share to their admin, her working everyday in the AM or PM and vice versa with the other, each knowing that they wouldn't have access to insurance, which was fine because me and the other lady's husband had good benefits...so it would literally save the district money. They said NO. 

There are a million other careers that educators can go into and make exponentially more money with infinitely better schedules. The whole "you get summers off" crowd won't want to admit it, but I'd rather have a flexible job 100% of the year vs. a completely inflexible job 10 months of the year with 2 months off...especially considering how much work I still always did/do over the summer.

[AkronsWitness]

1 hour ago, MWil23 said:

Per my post(s) with @LETSGOBROWNIES last week, this sums up so much. 

My wife left teaching to be a stay at home mom and we have zero regrets with it. She was able to WFH doing some things like tutoring/other stuff here and there and we pocketed what she made as opposed to shelling out money for childcare.

Her and another teacher back in the day pitched a job share to their admin, her working everyday in the AM or PM and vice versa with the other, each knowing that they wouldn't have access to insurance, which was fine because me and the other lady's husband had good benefits...so it would literally save the district money. They said NO. 

There are a million other careers that educators can go into and make exponentially more money with infinitely better schedules. The whole "you get summers off" crowd won't want to admit it, but I'd rather have a flexible job 100% of the year vs. a completely inflexible job 10 months of the year with 2 months off...especially considering how much work I still always did/do over the summer.

Yeah the other thing she tossed around is teaching english online to kids in Asia, because there is apparently a yuge market for that. I just dont want to fall into a trap of her being a stay at home mom for 8 hours a day, then having to spend every evening working. There has to be some niche thing out there that pays really good money for English lessons or tutoring.  

OR going back into teaching in a different district that actually pays well. Like Dublin or Olentangy where you can make 70k a year being a elementary school teacher with your masters and 8 years exp.

[NateDawg]

2 hours ago, AkronsWitness said:

Yeah the other thing she tossed around is teaching english online to kids in Asia, because there is apparently a yuge market for that. I just dont want to fall into a trap of her being a stay at home mom for 8 hours a day, then having to spend every evening working. There has to be some niche thing out there that pays really good money for English lessons or tutoring.  

OR going back into teaching in a different district that actually pays well. Like Dublin or Olentangy where you can make 70k a year being an elementary school teacher with your masters and 8 years exp.

My wife did VIPkid through China for a few years until a few years back. Before she went back to full time work. I’m guessing this is similar to the Asian teaching you are mentioning. My wife has an ESL background. Anyways, she got the hours she wanted and never struggled to fill timeslots, but that wasn’t always the case for everyone. She got up super early and got in a couple hours instead of evenings. So the nice part was you could work things around your schedule, the bad part was it was difficult to cancel things and maintain good standing, if something came up, from what I remember.