It’s a common perception that teachers have it easy. After all, they get summers off.

But the work doesn’t end after the final bell rings, according to those who continue to work through the warm months.

“This isn’t a freebie that we’re off during the summer,” said Lorrie Ozley, a Woodlawn School teacher who teaches reading in a summer school program. “I don’t have a paid vacation for three months.”

Many Lawrence teachers pick up second jobs to supplement their incomes, and it may be even more important this year. Teachers in the 2004-05 school year moved up the salary schedule, but they didn’t receive significant pay increases.

For some, like teacher Karen Johnson, the move meant an extra $125. She said lack of a raise made it difficult to cover rising costs in other areas.

“Everything else went up … except my salary,” said Johnson, a teacher at Langston Hughes School who is working part-time at Weaver’s Department Store, 901 Mass.

Sue Neverve, a Lawrence High School teacher, spends a lot of her time in the summer months catching up on tasks that have been put off for months. On Wednesday, she finally got around to last year's Christmas card list.

The district doesn’t keep track of teachers’ summer plans and does not report how many teachers work second jobs. But many say it’s pretty common.

In 2001, nearly 20 percent of teachers surveyed nationally earned pay from a summer job outside their teaching duties, according to a National Education Assn. study.

In Lawrence, teachers’ pay is distributed on a 12-month calendar throughout the year, but teachers can opt to get a lump sum check for the summer months.

The Lawrence District’s average actual teacher salary in 2003-04 was $43,321, including fringe benefits, according to the latest information available from the Kansas Department of Education. The average for the same time was $50,872 in Johnson County’s Blue Valley school district.

Ozley has always worked a second job during the summer, she said, out of necessity.

School board members have called teacher salaries a high priority. Negotiations between the district and the Lawrence Education Assn. are continuing, with the next session set for June 24.

The recent Kansas Supreme Court ruling forcing the Legislature to give $285 million to education was a morale booster for many educators, but some are cautiously optimistic.

“I’ll believe it when I see it in my paycheck,” Johnson said.

Mary Rodriguez, the Lawrence district’s human resources director, said news that some lawmakers may battle the ruling was disheartening.

“Hopefully, the majority of the legislators will recognize the importance of education and the fact that if something is not done we will continue to lose educators, but at a greater rate,” she said.

Even though the year ended, many teachers keep going at school.

Lawrence High School teacher Sue Neverve often stops at school to attend meetings and work. It’s not uncommon to run into other teachers, she said.

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“I don’t think the building is ever totally empty,” she said.

Many teachers also stay busy attending education workshops or taking additional coursework.

“[Teaching] is more work than people who aren’t educators think,” said Leigha Wiley, a second-grade teacher at Woodlawn School who works a second job teaching reading at a summer school program.

In those quiet moments, there is time to catch up on what couldn’t be done during the school year.

For Neverve, that means finally getting out those winter holiday greeting cards. When the holiday season got too busy, she delayed the job. She pushed it back several times.

“That’s how busy my school year has been,” she said.