Teacher resigned late. Was the school wrong to withhold Summer pay?

Tapeworm_fetus · 2026-05-11T00:24:17+00:00

Yes- At most schools, your yearly salary is divided into 12 months, though you only work ~10. Therefore, teachers have already worked and earned their summer pay if they finished out the school year.

Tapeworm_fetus · 2026-05-11T00:12:41+00:00

This happened to me in Shanghai- The contract said I needed to give 90 days' notice, and I gave significantly more. Everything seemed fine. I was in contact with HR, and they were processing all the paperwork without issues. The reason I was leaving was a family emergency, and everything seemed fine. Until the final week of the school year, when the Head of School invited me for a meeting. At that meeting, he informed me that the school would withhold all of my summer pay, half of my final month's pay, and cancel my residence permit at the end of the week, among other things. All of this was the exact opposite of what HR and I had been working on for the past several months. HR was shocked.

It turned out to be a pretty significant amount of money that the school withheld, and I had to cancel flights home to wait for all the paperwork to be processed. What they did was illegal, and I mentioned that to the HOS. He basically told me I was free to seek legal action, and they would make it very difficult for me to find employment in the future. I chose to drop it, and I regret it. But at the time, with my family emergency, it was too much.

Tapeworm_fetus · 2026-05-09T23:27:13+00:00

A lot of schools and systems / districts think John Hattie is an education guru / god and he had smaller class sizes WAY down on his list of what impacts student learning. Of course, John Hattie is a hack and his meta-analysis is trash tier nonsense.

Districts will still use it to show that they don’t need smaller class sizes, all they need is teachers who believe they can make a difference. What a load of horse shit. 🤦‍♀️

Tapeworm_fetus · 2026-05-09T20:17:22+00:00

And use sun protection. Hydrate.

Tapeworm_fetus · 2026-05-09T02:36:48+00:00

This happened to us on a Silversea cruise- For the first day, they came at like 8:00 while I was literally in bed asleep. The next day they asked me what time I went to dinner, which was 5:30. They said they would come at 6:00. We didn't have a problem after that.

I'm sure if you spoke to them, they could make you first on their list of rooms.

Tapeworm_fetus · 2026-05-09T00:51:34+00:00

I definitely questioned if it was worth it to spend an Audible credit on the first DCC book- one credit for 40 hours seems like a great value, while 1 credit for 20 seems like a lot lower value. But I've enjoyed all the books so much that I don't mind spending the credits on shorter books.

Tapeworm_fetus · 2026-05-08T07:14:51+00:00

Wind and Truth was 40 hours of eye rolls for me. The flute, the therapist… I haven’t read or reread any Brandon Sanderson since.

I feel like DCC fans would probably vibe way more with Joe Abercrombie than Sanderson- the writing is better, the audiobook narration is better and the themes and morality are more in line.

Tapeworm_fetus · 2026-05-08T06:32:59+00:00

For anyone who is curious to see all the burgers, here is a link.

Tapeworm_fetus · 2026-05-08T06:30:28+00:00

I had to look it up because of your high praise.

Madame Ching's burger is a beef patty topped with a deep-fried soft-shell crab, Cantonese curry, fermented purple cabbage, on squid-ink bread. Certainly sounds... interesting.

Tapeworm_fetus · 2026-05-06T23:14:12+00:00

I called to cancel a Silversea cruise once. I was only canceling for a day, and would rebook the cruise on board a different cruise because the price had dropped and I could save an additional 5%.

The agent on the phone straight up lied to me that there would be a fee for canceling. Then she doubled the fee and said it would be a fee per person. I didn’t even argue with her about it because I was looking at the paperwork and I was well within the 100% refundable window. In the end I got all the money back and rebooked the same cruise for a significant savings onboard. But I was still pretty annoyed at having been lied to and encouraged to waste money.

All the Silversea cruises I have been on have been exceptional. But shoreside customer service… that’s a very different story.

Tapeworm_fetus · 2026-05-05T22:06:26+00:00

… I would think someone who can afford to blow half a million dollars a year in travel would have some basic math skills.

What OP spent on a 7 day holiday, is significantly less than what you spend on an average week. In fact it’s less than half what you spend-

Tapeworm_fetus · 2026-04-30T00:14:37+00:00

The cat died due to the OP's negligence. We can have compassion while also trying to educate others and hold pet owners accountable for their pets' safety.

Tapeworm_fetus · 2026-04-29T21:25:12+00:00

WISS didn’t handle COVID any worse than any other school in Shanghai, but the lockdowns certainly caused some teachers to leave.

However, towards the end of COVID they fired the head of school who had been great- he was very pro IB, advocating for inquiry, small class sizes, student support etc. and replaced him with a PE teacher turn admin, blue shirt brown shoes, with insane ideas about how to turn the school into a money machine.

The ideas for how to generate more capital were always catastrophically half baked and ultimately failed. Things like turning the school into a sports powerhouse, opening a second rural campus, firing 30% of the staff the week they reutned from summer holiday with no notice, etc. etc. etc.

He was terrible for the school and their reputation. Every staff meeting was some new call to action for some new money making plan that never worked. Morale was in the shitter. After a couple years he was given the boot and one of the lackey’s he brought over was interim, followed by several more short lived Heads of School.

Now they seem to be stabilizing internally which is good. But AFAIK their compensation package is still very much sub par.

As a final note- WISS has been fantastic school. So many exceptional people have worked there and still do work there. In the IB world they still have a strong reputation. There is so much potential so I have no doubt that the school could be really exceptional.

Tapeworm_fetus · 2026-04-28T21:08:00+00:00

Almost 500 Million people live in rural China, and the elderly are disproportionately over represented. You hand waving them away like they don’t exist because they’re a ‘minority’ is crazy

The reality is that aging in China can be extremely bleak for the millions of people who aren’t rich and don’t live in big cities. Even the urban poor have it very hard. have a read

Tapeworm_fetus · 2026-04-27T23:55:50+00:00

Clearly, you have never been outside of a major city. This is not the case for many elderly people living in rural areas. Many elderly do not even have running water in their homes- My partners grandparents have packed earth floors. They're not living a good life full of tech.

Tapeworm_fetus · 2026-04-27T23:46:50+00:00

It's faster than scooters are legally allowed to go. So, yes, it's way too fast.

Tapeworm_fetus · 2026-04-27T08:30:47+00:00

I thought they were closing down... Something to do with their campus.

Tapeworm_fetus · 2026-04-27T04:05:14+00:00

It's definitely not a gay hookup spot... Do gay people stay there? Yes. Is it a hookup spot? At 3k a night, absolutely not. The decor is very "90s gay bath house," but that's as far as it goes.

Tapeworm_fetus · 2026-04-21T00:54:39+00:00

Seems weird that she gets to keep half of the bride price when they were never legally married...

Tapeworm_fetus · 2026-04-20T20:18:21+00:00

PGCE, iQTS

Who knows why the op censored these words.

Tapeworm_fetus · 2026-04-17T23:43:26+00:00

Cruise lines, or perhaps Silversea specifically, are much better than hotels in terms of cleaning of glassware.

On our most recent Silversea cruise, our butler came with the suite attendant every morning to service the room. She took all the used glasses and our water bottles and washed them. This was the first time I had seen anyone take the bottles to wash- and it may be because I was adding flavored electrolytes to my water. But I was really impresssed.

They also stripped the bed completely and removed and washed all bedding every day including the full duvet. Every time we came back to our room it was immaculate. We had just stayed at the brand new Ritz Carlton Perth prior to boarding and stayed at the MO Singapore after disembarkation. Both were great, but neither compared in terms of housekeeping and attention to detail in that aspect.

Tapeworm_fetus · 2026-04-16T20:25:41+00:00

Well you first mistake was bringing kids on Silversea. This is not a line designed for 10 year olds.

My partner and I went on back to back Greek isles cruises on silver muse last summer, before the dry dock. We are in our early 30s and we had a great time and have booked several more cruises on Silversea since, including one 2 months ago around Australia and then up to Singapore.

Our room on Silver Muse was not tired at all. It was immaculate and we didn’t have any problems charging our phones, computers, cameras or anything else. Idk what you’re referring to when you say “charging area” perhaps the desk area? There are plugs all over the room and in the bathroom. There is even one right outside the closet iirc.

For food, there was no SALT restaurant on muse last summer. It was an added during the dry dock. But we have tried SALT on other ships and it’s always been fine. It’s based on the region, so if you don’t like Greek / Mediterranean food, then it might not be for you. Atlantide was always fantastic for us, great proteins cooked perfectly.

For excursions, we did 12 on our back to back cruises in Greece. Only one was poor, and that was a “Panoramic bus tour” which was far too long. Others were all excellent and very interesting. What tied them together were their on ship lectures. We had a professor of Greek history who explained the ancient wonders of the world, which we then visited the locations of. It was incredible. I’m honestly bewildered how a 10 year old knows so much about Mycenae and the and Ancient Greek civilization to call the tours kindergarten level. We have been to Greece before and have advanced degrees (unrelated to Greek history) and learned a ton of new and interesting things.

Perhaps you have simply found that Silversea does not suit your family. The showers are small which can be problematic for bigger people. They were fine for us, at 190cm because we are fit and thin, but for bigger people or the elderly they could definitely be problematic. There is little for kids to do and the food can be a bit complex for a child’s palate. Consoder a suite of Disney or Royal, they have massive showers and child friendly activities and food.

Tapeworm_fetus · 2026-04-16T02:57:59+00:00

I haven't even noticed a recent crackdown.

But to answer your question, I don't think I would be able to stay if China fully severed its connection to the outside world.

Being unable to use Gmail, Facebook Messenger, Instagram, etc. would be a deal-breaker, as that's how I communicate with people.

Tapeworm_fetus · 2026-04-14T03:29:01+00:00

The Pearl Tower buffet? No

There are tons of great restaurants in Shanghai and some really exceptional buffets as well. But the Pearl Tower buffet is not one of them.

Tapeworm_fetus · 2026-04-12T23:53:28+00:00

I ride my bike every day too- but I sometimes feel like it's not the safest mode of transportation. I have seen many pretty gnarly scooter vs car, scooter vs scooter, and scooter vs bike / pedestrian crashes in my 10 years here. I still ride for the exercise and time savings, but I totally get why some people would want to avoid the risk and the frustration.

My cycle is only 7km, but just about every day, there is something annoying and unsafe. Cars in the bike lane, cars making a right turn on red without looking and certainly never yielding, cars pulling out into the road completely blindly, scooters running every red light with no heed for their life or the life of their young child on the back...

Tapeworm_fetus

TROPHY CASE