"Tears are choking me": The teacher on a personal contract who claims there is a boycott in the teachers' lounge

A teacher who joined the education system as part of the personal contract track claims that she is suffering from a boycott and hostile treatment from teachers at the school where she began working. In a post she published after the first day of the school year, she described her difficult feelings and clarified that the difficulty does not stem from the students, the salary conditions, or the working hours - but from the treatment she receives in the teachers' lounge.

"Tears are choking me and I am deleting, writing, deleting and writing," she began her words. "I am one of the teachers on personal contracts, and I want to leave." According to her, the connection with the students actually started in a good way: "Not because of the children, who are currently fine and are accepting me very nicely."

The teacher said that before entering the system she worked as a programmer, and that she knew in advance what her salary would be within the framework of the new track. According to her, it is a salary of 18 thousand shekels gross for ten months, which she estimated as equivalent to about 12 thousand shekels per month in an annual calculation - an amount that she says is significantly lower than the salary she received as a programmer. Also regarding the scope of work, she wrote that "the hours are not bad."

"It feels like going back to high school"

But according to her, the difficulty began precisely in the meeting with the staff of teachers. "But the teachers' lounge... I feel as if there are teachers who have put a contract out on me because I dared to work in the education system on a track that was offered to me," she wrote. "Is it my fault? Why are they boycotting me because I came through the personal contract?"

The teacher described cases where, she claims, she tried to approach other teachers and encountered ignoring. "It feels like going back to high school, but this time it's in the teachers' lounge. I approach someone and she simply ignores me and giggles in my face," she wrote. According to her, this is not an isolated case: "Not one, not two, but an entire teachers' lounge."

She also claimed that the treatment is not directed only at her, and that another teacher who is employed through a personal contract is experiencing similar treatment. "And it is also happening to the second teacher on a personal contract," she wrote, and wondered: "What kind of message does this convey to the children?"

At the end of the post, the teacher tried to understand why her employment track became, according to her, a reason for the treatment towards her. "What do you care how I arrived at the system, why is it my fault these procedures of the Ministry of Education?" she wrote. "I came to work because the hours are more convenient and I love to teach, that's all."

She signed off her words with a feeling of frustration after only one day in the system: "I don't want to go to the teachers' lounge, and only one day has passed since the beginning of the year. What do I do?"

Many users agreed with the teacher and also added. One user wrote: "Then they are surprised that children boycott children. It is just as serious and anti-educational. The school principal is supposed to handle this. A cohesive staff is part of the success of education and not personal intrigues. It is very depressing to read this."

Another user also responded: "As an educator... I don't care about yes or no personal contract, I care about the quality of teaching. But worse than that, what kind of educators are we, what example will we give if we boycott and behave in such ways?"

In contrast, there were also users who did not agree with the anonymous author of the post and responded to her, one of them wrote: "Sounds like just trolling from the chat. Most teachers don't go and tell their colleagues about the fat contract they received."

Another user joined him and wrote: "Let's write an anonymous post... a little emotional with deleting and crying and move on. A completely unreliable post. And if so... the author of the post can breathe. It's a new place. They put a contract out... giggling in the face... an entire teachers' lounge. Oh come on. A post that comes to disparage the intelligence of the teachers. It's strange that there are those who side with her."

The testimony comes against the background of the controversy surrounding the "talents" program promoted by the Ministry of Education and the Ministry of Finance, which is intended to allow the recruitment of professionals from outside under improved salary conditions. As was published on Walla last month, veteran teachers warned that the track might create two classes in the teachers' lounge and arouse a feeling of inequality between those who have accumulated years of experience in the system and new employees who will enter it through a special track and with a higher salary.