Bureacracy

Here's a taste of former-Soviet bureaucracy... I've been working
with the accountants to figure out how to update their systems and
here is what I've learned. [BTW, my second Excel class went off
really well too. Everyone was there on time all by themselves this
time - like they really wanted to be there! - and this time we
converted some of the real paper documents they use into electronic
ones. Next week I'm going to start meeting daily with each
accountant for 30 minutes on the computer. I figure within a couple
weeks I can consider this project more or less finished and they'll
be able to do everything I can do on Excel.] Now, onto the crazy
teacher salary system...

First, you have your base salary based on your years of experience -
just like in America. Then, for some reason you also have a percent
of that salary as a bonus, either 10% or 30%, again depending on your
years of experience. Why there is a separate calculation for the
bonus instead of just lumping it in with the original salary I don't
know. Then each teacher receives a certain percentage of their
"salary+bonus" for the number of classes they taught. If they teach
grades 1-4, they are required to teach 20 classes per week. If
grades 5-12, 18 hours per week. So if they go over or under these
numbers, they get more or less money. Then there's also a small
additional salary for the number of hours they work at home
correcting homework, exams, notebooks, etc. But each subject - math,
Russian, science, etc. - has a different hourly rate. And the rate
is so low across all subjects and the differences between each
subject so miniscule that the most any single teacher might receive
for his/her correcting work would be about $3 per month. In my
opinion, the only thing this "homework bonus" serves to do is make
more work for the accountants.

The system gets trickier when you consider substitute days. First,
if a teacher is absent his or her salary is reduced. There are no
"permanent subs," people who only work as substitutes, like you find
in America. Therefore, the school director or another teacher will
sub and receive a bonus for doing so. The bonus is slightly larger
for teaching older children. There are also additional tiny bonuses
for being a homeroom teacher, coaching an after school activity, and
my personal favorite - hazard pay for some chemistry teachers for
being exposed to dangerous chemicals. There are tiny payments for
having security detail - meaning you have the key to the computer
room - and for working in the school garden during the spring. And
of course there are various taxes that are withheld.

And don't get me started on sick days... I haven't figured this out
yet, but apparently depending on whether you yourself are sick or if
you stay at home to take care of a sick relative or if you get sick
at school or at home or in another city you receive a different
amount of sick pay. And you have to get an official document from
the hospital to show that you were actually sick - no simple phone
call to say "I have a cold and need to stay in bed."

No wonder we have 5 accountants in our office - this is a mountain
load of (seemingly superfluous) calculations. Fortunately Excel is
up to the task and after setting up the proper formulas the first
time, the computer does the rest.

Hoping to start a typing class soon...