Thanks, Gai. I second your position. And thanks to all the people who have so far responded to me outside this thread. I understand that in many districts the "pay" for even coaches is not close to an hourly rate for an actual professional. A starting point is to get theatre professionals on par with athletic professionals. It is otherwise an absurd distortion of priorities. I certainly have my preferences, but it would be hard to argue that the arts are LESS important than athletics. So, at the outset, parity is required. I should add that my $2605/year stipend is behind only the head football and head basketball coaches, who receive $2896, not nearly enough I think for their work either.
Once that parity is acknowledged, getting your district to compensate people reasonably for their time, no matter the area of expertise is next.
Which begs the question what is an appropriate amount? I know programs are extremely varied school to school. From a week of after-school days to finish the show a class has worked on all semester, to 25 hours a week, for 30 of the 36 weeks of the year. In my district, we have a wide range of time commitments that reflect the lives, needs, and families of the different teachers. As it should be. So where in the wide range of advisors and coaches (our school has 2700 students and has a lot of stuff going on) does my program fit?
I would love for people to share a truthful estimate of the time they spend annually, and description of the work they produce.
Here is mine:
Stipend $1794 for PAC coordinator-which means I am in charge of everything anybody does in the theatre. Talent shows, heritage nights, leadership activities, band, choir, drumline, BSU, sppech and debate . . . As well as outside rentals. I don't have to work all the events, but I recruit, train, schedule, and oversee any student techs who work them. The techs are volunteer students, though they do get paid $15/hour if the group is an outside rental. I haven't work out the time involved here, but it is roughly 100 hours. Maybe $18/hour.
Stipend $2605 for Drama Director
In brief, there are, scattered, about 35 days (7 weeks' worth) where I don't work at least 20 hours a week. In the last year before COVID, it added up to just under 700 hours. Less than $4/hour J
So, all told, 800 hours is worth $4399, $5.50/hour.
I swear, sometime soon I will start a thread about all the reasons we LOVE being theatre educators; I just am trying to build a database so that I can work with my union and admin (I am on our bargaining team) revamping how our extra-duty teachers are incentivized-I hesitate to call it paid, since I haven't made less than $10 an hour since high school in the 80's.
Thanks for your help!