Poll: Orange teachers want better pay and police, not armed employees

Most Orange County public school teachers are satisfied with the support they get on the job, but they want better pay and they want police officers, not school employees, to carry guns on campus, according to a new poll.

The poll found 79 percent of teachers satisfied with the “professional and personal support” they receive from Central Florida’s largest school district.

When asked what would keep them teaching in Orange schools, 66 percent cited increased pay.

“I actually thought the number would higher,” said Superintendent Barbara Jenkins at an Orange County School Board meeting.

Still, she noted, pay increases

The information gleaned from the poll will be “helpful, useful to our plans next year and going forward.”

Orange County Public Schools Superintendent

were “way out in front of anything else” teachers said would convince them to stay on the job.

Seventy percent of those polled said they opposed arming school employees who aren’t law enforcement officers, a proposal state leaders have pushed in the wake of the massacre at the high school in Parkland last year.

Jenkins said the poll done by the firm SGS, Inc. aimed to gauge teachers’ views on a variety of key topics, replacing “teacher round tables” she’s held in the past. She shared highlights with the board Tuesday,

ahead of the poll’s release.

The information gleaned from the poll will be “helpful, useful to our plans next year and going forward,” she told the board.

Teachers told the district they were split on district student discipline policies, with 52 percent saying they were “somewhat effective” and 37 percent calling them “not effective at all.”

When asked if “disciplinary practices intended to keep students in school have been effective” 49 percent said yes and 43 percent said no.

“So it’s an area we’ve got to have more work on,” Jenkins said.

Other key findings: Teachers said they liked the district’s “professional learning communities,” its school safety and security, and its emphasis on collaborative planning.

They said it must work on improving teacher retention, communicating with teachers better and offering more instructional support.

The poll, conducted from March 26 to April 2, involved interviews with 1,002 teachers.

lpostal@orlandosentinel.com 407-420-5273