Anonymous said...
Teachers do not get paid to go to Graduation, Canobie Lake Park ( after the school day), write recommendations after school hours, and the list goes on, least of all massive amounts of hours preparing and correcting materials. People take all of these for granted, expecting free labor where they never question overtime with police and fire or other municipal workers. The freebies are gone and now people are seeing what they have been getting for nothing forever- from people who give freely and now want a contract that equals other municipal workers contracts. Why is this so hard to understand? Why are teachers expected to work for free?The short answer is nobody expects anybody to work for free.
People do expect you to do the job that you get paid for. Teaching, like most professional careers, is not the same as flipping burgers at McDonald's. A teacher may have a specific number of hours in a classroom, but they are also expected to put in an appropriate number of hours outside of the classroom in order to be prepared to meet the objectives and expectations of their profession. That's the job. It's always been that way. If you don't like it find another one.
In the private sector, employees do not have the benefit of tenure. Few professionals have union protection -- they remain employed only as long as they continue to meet specific goals and achievements. Any professional private sector employee who would march out the door every day at 5:00 (never mind 3:00 !!) with the impression that their work was done would soon find themselves unemployed. Private sector employees routinely work nights and weekends to keep their licenses and professional knowledge current, and to stay on top of their professional work obligations -- NO in-service days, NO prep periods, NO training days, and no ability to show irrelevant videos in class when they are unprepared (or unwilling) to do their job.
Private sector employees may get 2-3 weeks of vacation time (which they may be able to find time to use) -- BUT they definitely don't get 2 weeks at Christmas, a week in February, a week in April, a dozen holidays, and the entire months of July and August off. And you certainly won't find many private employees heading home at 3:00.
The poster also made a humorous comment when he/she said:
"people who give freely and now want a contract that equals other municipal workers contracts"
Huh? Other municipal unions (and many of the smaller school unions) took wage freezes for two years in a row. The SEA has not. Many SEA members continued to receive annual step & lane raises and longevity pay that well-exceeded inflation. Depending on how the contract issue is resolved, they may also get a substantial amount of back pay for FY '11 & FY '12.
How about salary numbers? According to the Mass. Dept of Education, the average Sandwich teacher makes $69,609 -- an amount higher than the state average, higher than many other area towns, and higher than the towns of Beverly, Duxbury & Cohasset. In a survey of 328 Districts for 2009-2010, Sandwich is the 107th highest in the state. Not a huge margin --- but hardly a sign of neglect. Don't believe me -- look it up on the DOE website.
They're getting almost $70,000 (plus pension, medical, dental, etc.) for a 9 month work year and a classroom day that ends by 3 PM. Does the Union really think the guys running the dump and plowing snow are getting a better deal?
Do they seriously want to equate their work situation with Police & Fire personnel?
Do they really want to have these arguments with parents who work full-time, with minimal benefits, and minimal time off, and who are now facing school bus fees AND hear that their kid's teacher won't write a letter of recommendation or attend a field trip to an amusement park which may extend their workday by an hour?
Have they noticed that a large number of Sandwich real estate sales now show a bank as either the buyer or the seller. Do they want to have these arguments with parents who have been laid off, and may have lost their homes?
Of course they do -- and that arrogant stupidity is why the contract has been unresolved for two years.
39 comments:
And why the kids and families of Sandwich are being punished through the budget process. What is astounding to me is that so few have figured out that if the schools go down, the town goes down. Or have we already passed the point of no return on that one. Even if you disagree with the union and I certainly do, please don't overlook the common sense of not throwing the baby out with the bathwater. Last night's Board of Selectman meeting might as well have been 2005. Now it will be up to citizens or the School Committee to try and get additional funding for the schools at Town Meeting. Given the unhappiness most people have with the union and their tactics, that will be a hard sell. And of course clearly there is apathy where advocacy for school funding is concerned on the part of citizens. People are checking out. I want to see when the fees start for the Council on Aging. And I definitely want parking lot permits required for Community School users. For that matter, why aren't we charging a parking fee for all our town parking lots now that it has come to this. Oh that's right. The schools have gotten everything for 30 years.
I think the message last night was the schools better get their own house in order BEFORE asking for more money. I've seen it in here a dozen times -- why is the Community School continuing to use tax dollars?
It seems we should cut that before we ask the parents -- or selectmen -- for any more money.
You are right, parents have checked out. Last night's speakers were SC members/spouses/employees, a volunteer without kids in the system, and one parent who always lobbies for the SPED budget.
The Union nonsense has driven parents away and is in the process of killing the District. They have killed any hope of building local support.
Several years ago the two Bobs got elected to the school committee and tried pretty hard to push for fiscal transparency, affordable, sustainable teachers’ contracts and right sizing the Community School and making the community school fiscally self sufficient. Why? Because they knew that the schools needed to get their fiscal house in order or face massive shortfalls and voter apathy and mistrust.
For their troubles they were name called and essentially booted from public office.
Today nothings been fixed and all the issues they championed are still issues.
Nobody in their right mind should give the schools another nickel until and unless the schools fix those issues the two Bobs talked about starting at least 5 or 6 years ago!
Anyone who supports giving the schools more money now, before the fixes get implemented, is foolish and fool hearty. Until this ship’s officers decide it’s time to patch the massive holes in the good ship SS Sandwich Schools, there’s just no sense spending money to buy deck furniture.
Following the thinking that would have us starve the schools until they get their house in order is digging us a deeper and deeper hole. If it is affordable we should be supporting the schools. Since 1993, basically because of ed reform and the funding formula, things started to get tough for Sandwich. When you have only 20% of your foundation funding coming from the state as compared to 75-95% for major urban areas the bulk of education funding falls on the towns through local appropriation. We have been underfunding our schools for years. The town has been trying to balance the budget on the backs of the schools for years. Yes Bob and Bob tried to get the house in order. Certainly Dana did too. But there is a bigger problem. We are now sending a message loud and clear that we are not going to fund our schools appropriately. That hole will get bigger and bigger. Fixing all those problems people keep talking about, sure why not, but with who and what resources and who puts out the fires and does the day to day as the SC attempts to fix those problems with a Superintendent from out of state who has been here 10 months. So next year the hole will be deeper. Sorry, but for a bedroom community to Boston, I don't think those of us who want to fund our schools are fools.
Sorry but these are six year old problems -- maybe older!
How do you instill accountability or responsibility if every new Super and every new School Board elected gets a free pass because they’re “new”?
That logic is just what the school administrators and teachers union counts on.
They figure eventually everyone will cave and nothing will ever have to change.
Time to make a stand. Time to demand better. Not a nickel more before real, demonstrable reform.
Everyone has choice – go to Sturgis, go to Barnstable, go to JPII, go to Tech. Lots of folks are doing this and many many more will follow.
Whatever you do don’t throw good money after bad until the problems are fixed once and for good.
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The Truth Maker would ask brother Bob to look at todays Enterprise and look at Judy Koenig article It might be well worth while to even put it here for others to read, that may not get the paper.
To poster 4;24 I would humbly disagree with your analogy that we have been underfunding our schools here in Sandwich for years. When one takes into account that 75% of our towns budget is being spent on school related costs and that has been the case for many years.
Does that mean we are not spending enough to keep them competitive, perhaps the answer is yes, but that cannot be construde as we have been balancing the town's budget on the backs of the School, because we have not in my opinion.
Some rather unusual budget problems have complicated educational dollars in how they get spent. The Community School over its life time has taken many of the dollars we provide for educating our children into being diverted to support the losses incurred by this enterprise account. No one really wants to know the number of dollars that have been diverted over many years to keep Both the community school and pool stable.
The money set aside in the budget before town meeting once again includes educational dollars being used to aid a loseing business venture. Do you know how much that dollar amount is???
It also has hidden money in its budget, just approved to pay, back salary, once the contract is settled. How much money are we speaking about? I would guess the number is close to One big one. 1 million.
Who is to say, when this ongoing, disruption to education will be resolved, that the number actually needed may only be $5oo,ooo who gets to be the benefactor of this windfall???
Given the present set of rules and guidlines we have in place for education here in Sandwich, the schools recieved more then it share of our tax dollars and it will continue to do so, as well.
Now on the other hand with all of the outside school districts taking our children to be educated we may need to increase that number, but how can that be accomplished is only by an overide and with so many folks hurting financially here and else where that is not a practical solution, but an option.
Now smile
Did anyone besides me think that Judy must have been reading this blog and taking careful notes as inspiration for her editorial this week? I think certain sentences were almost taken verbatim from this blog.
If they go to Sturgis or Upper Cape it cost us more money. You can't win with your logic. We can see that now with the stats since 2007. You can't win with a plan that calls for success in 2016.
The stand we need to take is simple, fund our schools appropriately!!!! I see your point and I know we have had we have had junk management ever since the override on some levels. We've had some stupid decisions in government too, like the under ride of 2006 that gave back to the state $500,000. That's right. Sure our taxes were cut a tiny bit. But they have gone up and up and up since 2007. That was a brilliant message to send not to mention no logic what so ever. Grandstanding politics at your expense. The exodus from the schools started that year.
It is a shame that we got a super who doesn't recognize that this is not the time to make major changes. It is the time to help people feel comfortable with their schools. Regardless of the poor choices made around the School Budget, we still need to stand up for the Schools and for our families, who now very likely face unfair fees and fee increases.
Because logic is only part of it. We as a community should not be overburdening struggling families in this economy and we as a community, need to tell the leaders, it is not because of you but in spite of you that we know education is a value for our community not dependent on any body who comes along. It is who we are. And the leaders who come along who don't have kids in the school system, need to come and go if they can't see the value of good schools in a bedroom community to Boston.
The plot is thick after all these years of the municipal government making there demented case. I say demented because no decent community would take steps guaranteed to bring the schools down. The elected and appointed leadership to the Board of Selectman and the Finance Committee hasn't made it any easier. Shame on us.
Finance Committees are elected in Connecticut. In the bedroom communities to New York every once in a while someone gets elected to Fin Com that wants to devalue education. They never last more then a term and many leave before their term is up. Those places know what you need to have a community thrive. WE should too by now.
1:47 -- you're missing the point. The Schools are being funded appropriately. BUT those funds are being diverted to either ridiculous contract demands OR illegally siphoned off to operate the Community School.
I think it's been pointed out several times, including in the audit report two years ago that the Community School loses big money -- if the School wasn't paying for the swimming pool there would be no deficit.
This discussion has been going on for years. I agree with the growing number of people tat say "get your house in order THEN we can discuss additional funding.
Yup, people are going to continue to leave the District until this is resolved. So fix it.
7:23, Even a broken clock is right twice a day.
If you look at the figures for even the past 10 years, (it is actually longer) you will see that the schools are not being funded adequately. Consider that supplies were left out of the budget for almost 10 years. Look at the fact that professional development was left out of the budget for over a decade. While I don't agree one bit with the immature union leadership, you will see that school employees have not been ahead of expected salary and benefit for municipal employees. Taking zeros is meaningless if higher compensation follows to make up for that zero, which is the tact the municipal side has taken for years. Politically the schools have had to fight for every penny. How many times do we have to hear about how the town has not built a building since the 1989 schools? Any parent who buys into the politics that the schools shouldn't be funded because they can't be trusted is sadly misinformed. Every year I've lived here the school budget has been a punishment situation. We can feel good about all the feel good stuff, but until the town realizes what it is doing in the constant punishment of the school district, our out of school costs will continue to grow and the quality of our schools will continue to diminish. The cost for out of district sending comes directly off the town side. With short sighted Selectman and confused School Committee members continuing to dominate the political climate, we are in real trouble. The Sandwich Schools have been underfunded for years. Yes there are stupid things going on like the Community School and really dumb choices on the part of the union leadership but it is the climate of financial struggle that keeps people from actually doing a better job of moving forward in the schools. It is a leadership issue and a community issue. This town could be thriving if we stopped trying to play political games.
It is a leadership issue. There is none.
The SC goes in circles and talks about everything EXCEPT what they need to discuss. Did we really need to focus on touring shower curtains for a pool we can't afford, when there is an unresolved budget deficit, an unreviewed Supt, an unresolved teachers contract, no capital; maintenance funds for anything, etc.
ENOUGH with the smoke and mirrors!
The BOS was worse this week. Despite a member's lobbying, they could not seem to generate any public interest (aside from the usual affiliated folks) who spoke out in favor of increased funding. But the conversation continued to go in circles because some elected people seem to be in love with the sound of their own voices.
If anybody cares, they'll show up at Town Meeting and do something -- otherwise move on.
I don't give a damn about 10 years ago.
I care about today. People have made solid points here about realistic things that could be done NOW to start fixing the problem.
All you need is the testicular fortitude to do it.
The Truth Maker would comment to poster9:52.
To say that money was not included in the budget process over the past 10 years is not dealing with the facts. When we had the last overide and we at town meeting approved the schools budget based upon what they needed to be funded. As I recall, sufficent capitol was approved for the listed needs, among which included books and supplies for labs and so on. That particular item came in at $450,000 and that has been part of the present budget process ever since. So if one was to calculate out all the years that this override bought the school district, It is a great deal of money that we were told would be used for the specific line item in the budget.
It was decided by the Superindendant at that time to forgo updating books and when every one asked why, the answer was because we do not need to spend the money where we say it is needed. Under that anaylogy why would any rational person now say we have not provided the money when we have been putting it in the budget every year since the override. We the taxpayers have provided the money to the schools for this purpose and they chose not to use it where they stated they would. WHo's fault is that I ask?
Now smile
You can throw all the money you want at public schools, but until the teachers begin to really care about what they are turning out, it won't matter a bit. More money does not equal better education. The teachers have to do more than roll their eyes around when a kid doesn't feel inspired when the same-old same-old is trying to be implemented. Public schools are creating a haven for laziness and mediocrity in general. More money isn't going to help that at all. If you are an excellent student, you'll do fine in Sandwich. If you are borderline and average, you will disappear in to the cracks faster than money goes down the toilet.
!0 years ago matters and so does now. Fortitude is not just a question of guts or graphic expressions. It is also a question of knowledge. And it is a question of doing what you can do when you are in a position to do it. Posting on a blog anonymously is something you can do. But there are other things. It is always amazing to me that people actually think they can bring folks on board to their way of thinking by insulting them. I don't disagree that people talk in circles at times, but so what if it leads somewhere. If it doesn't that isn't just an issue about the people talking. They need back up too. At least people came to the Board of Selectman meeting. If no one had come there would have been no discussion. I think the discussion was important. I wanted to hear what the Selectman thought about the schools given the fact we can afford more money going to them. And the fee idea stinks. It would be great if they could have helped avoid the fees. The solutions offered on this page are ideas that someone has to initiate. Hopefully the School Committee reads this blog.
So if teachers are not to compare themselves to Fire and Police with respect to being paid overtime for work outside their contractual hours since these are typical "professional" obligations, does that mean that fire and police are "unprofessional"?All teachers recognize that work must be done outside the school day- chaperoning trips is not teaching. Going to prom is not teaching.No one wants to miss these things- these are highlights for teachers and students to celbrate accompishments and time well spent growing. Stop misrepresenting teachers intentions.
It sounds like our new friend has never had a job in the real world! Teachers are paid to chaperon dances, and they are paid to be prepared for class.
There aren't many real world jobs that don't require some "facetime" at extra-activities. Not that the teachers union would know anything about marketing or public relations!
I think anybody who feels "burdened" by the teaching profession, should do everyone a favor and get out. After 2 weeks in the real world, they will be screaming to get back in!
I could care less if your gang shows up for graduation. (I'd actually prefer you didn't).
Just don't pretend that you're not holding kids hostage by refusing to write college recommendations.
(Police & Fire have nothing to do with this issue -- but if teachers want to work a 12 month 24/7 schedule where they will actually be held responsible for their level of effort, I'm sure they could look into public safety careers.)
After watching all the mtgs for all 3 boards it for sure has been brought to the attention that there is extra money that would help bridge the gap for the schools. However with that said, the Board of Selectman do not want to give it up or better yet give in to the School committee which is really sad. As said, we are one community and we all need to remember that! I don't know the proper procedure but I do hope that their is a movement to bring in voters that will support someone making a motion on the Town Meeting floor to increase the amount given to the school and I do hope its alot more than has been asked for. We the voters have a right to make what we feel is the right decision! I for sure will attend just to support it!
I don't know if its possible but could someone please let me know if its possible to find out what the teachers union is asking for as well as what the issuse are with the school committee for not yet settling? Facts not rumors nor hear say!
As a tax payer I would really love to know so I may support either side on TRUE facts!
Anon 6:13' if it is illegal to divert educational dollars elsewhere, like the damn pool for example, and our new super and sc readily admit that's what they are doing, how can you expect taxpayors to support throwing more tax dollars into that highly chlorinated mess! I supported the school override years ago and worked very hard to support it. I also have children in the district and I absolutely, positively will not vote to put one more dollar into that mess. The SEA nonsense and community school mismanagement are the reasons for my strong feelings. The parents I talk with are disgusted with all of this! The lengthly diatribe which you offer to support your ideas just doesn't address the issues that hard working parents are upset about. Parents of seniors are furious with the teachers and parents of younger students are tired of seeing educational dollars being used to buy chlorine for the elderly water aerobic participants from mashpee or Hyannis! Enough already! My 8th grader is taking advantage of school choice and my younger children will be doing the same. And just for the record, conversation just for conversation sake is a waste of time and energy! Parents are too busy working, taking care of their homes, raising their children and tring to keep their heads above water to sit and watch the nonsense that took place at the BOS mtg this week! Deal with it and move on.
That's the amusing thing. The Union refuses to acknowledge what they are asking for and under the negotiating terms, the School Committee can not discuss it either. That's why the SC members sit like statues while Carlyle gets up and rants and raves -- and says everything EXCEPT what it is they want!
My son's teacher spent considerable class time discussing the contract with her 8th grade class -- and explaining why they couldn't go on the annual field trip.
According to that teacher, in addition to more money, the union wants language changes -- including the right to approve any future changes in curriculum.
Maybe they want to show Disney videos in class 5 days a week now?
I agree with previous post -- I have always supported schools -- but I'm done until this crap is under control.
6:13 -- some of the ideas mentioned on this page WERE initiated but have since been reversed because elected officials could not stand up to a very small vocal minority of people protecting their own self-interests.
Maybe if parents had stepped up previously, this would not have happened.
My kid has graduated, but I still belive in the importance of education. I agree with previous poster --- enough discussion -- maybe the BOS's refusal to provide additional funding will wake some people up.
I read over and over again on this blog that there is trust and hope in the new Superintendent. I hear SC members say that. I hear BOS and Fin Com members say that. So it doesn't follow that teachers will ultimately determine what the future of the Sandwich Schools will be as 4/15, 2:31 states. It will give the new Superintendent an opportunity to do his job. It will also take the burden of new fees off struggling families which I think will be a boost to our town's common sense of purpose. Not to mention it is not fair that the budget be balanced on their backs. I don't care what anyone says. That is unfair!
Teachers now get stipends for all the out of class room activities they do. Though I know some who put in non-stipend hours for good causes! Writing a letter to a college should be part of their job description not to mention an ethical obligation they need to have if they really believe they have value as a teacher. There are too many class trips and field trips! We can't afford the buses for one thing and yes, it detracts from teaching time. To a previous poster I say you are right that isn't teaching.
Many teaching departments at university say the major problem in public education is teachers don't teach. Some leaders in education say "teachers don't want to teach", but I don't believe that. I think the culture makes too many demands on teachers, the schools have way too many hours devoted to not teaching. Sandwich is suppose to be teaching 180 days a year. The average is between 220 and 240 days per year. It all has to be looked at. I'm told Dr. C. is very concerned with the low teaching days. We have the most 1/2 days of almost any district in the common wealth. It all has to be looked at.
In this feel good society, there is way too much other stuff in schools. Teachers aren't teaching as much as the should, but I truly don't believe that is because they don't want to. I am aware there are some exceptions to this like teachers who get paid to teach and spend most of their time running programs. To me it is not about comparing teachers to other municipal employees except in salary and benefits, which a mediator will make a comparison to in order to get a fair contract.
The teachers know it is illegal to divert educational dollars to non educational (k-12) operations. Essentially through the Community School that has now been going on for decades. Wish the teachers would speak up about that. I do see the point of punishing the School Committee and the School Department for continuing with the Community School debacle, now that the truth is really out. It has become very clear that the taxpayers have and are continuing to be taken advantage of. It is frustrating beyond belief that adult leaders can't do the right thing!!!!!!!!! But I still don't think parents and families should be punished because of stupid leadership.
The Truth Maker would state that with the present known reasons the school district is facing money problems and they have chose to not address it in a forthright and open manner.
Why would any family that has similar problems, feel comfortable in providing more money from there family to the schools when the schools do not use the money they have, in the manner it is prescibed to be used for?
The present school committee has failed to bring forward any resolution to this mess and once again it is being put off to be dealt with by others that will not have a clue,at what in sam hill has been going on.
Why has the present chair, not brought this subject matter up for discussion, leaves me with grave concerns, as to how this mess will ever be repaired.
Person who calls themselves the Truth Maker, Families are going to put more money into the schools through unfair fees! If I were a parent and thought that a shortsighted political decision to not fund the schools made more sense, I would be confused, shall we say. People make political decisions emotionally. But it is best at times to really think through these decisions and see what is the best strategic decision. You aren't going to hurt your pocket book by being part of an action that will defeat fees being imposed on families next September. You are going to hurt your pocket book when you pay out the fees. It really is that simple. They other stuff won't get fixed right now, sad to say. There is not the leadership or the political will to do so. But we can take care of one piece of injustice. Regardless, the message we are sending about our schools is not good, but we can at least help a lot of people participating in the school situation be in a better way. I don't really think there are that many parents out there that don't want additional money for the schools, especially since the fees will effect their bottom line.
11:43, your post looks remarkably similar to other comments posted here and on that other blog. I strongly suspect there are less than 4 parents paying attention in town.
I agree with the previous posters -- if you want to get somebody to pay attention -- send them a bill. Just because nobody has been paying attention in the past, does not mean we should perpetuate the stupidity.
If I understand things correctly, Charter schools and the like don't have fees... because they are included in the high priced tuition !!!! At just over $11 per pupil to get a great education doesn't seem like much, hence, with no extra money coming from the town, and to keep the programs, teachers and classroom sizes, there was bound to be fees at some point again. A few years back we paid bus and parking fees. Even if the budget had these fees put in, something else would have to give. Personally I would rather pay a fee than have less teachers, meaning less programs and larger classes. As a town we need to ensure that our kids get up to date, competetive instruction. And when you send your child elsewhere at the expense of the town, it takes away from our own students at a much higher cost.
I think a lot of parents feel the same way as Always Watching. That's why fees are a big part of education. While I don't want to see programs cut (which they have been) or teacher numbers dropped (which they aren't) I still think something is wrong with this picture, fees as a way to balance a budget in a recovering economy when families are struggling. There is a general principal here too that more and more people have mentioned. Like why is at the vo-tech school which we support there are no fees? Maybe we should try to get this problem fixed. Do the fees really equate to quality education? If you believe the politicians in this case they do. I think they are a political football; one that has been tossed around for years by those running America's schools.
Rather than wasting time talking about the concept of fees, and arguing over the Vo-Tech's lack of fees (which we have no control over -- although we can pretend if it makes folks feel better) ---- let's talk about the fact that the schools would not need to charge fees if the non-school pool users actually paid for the pool.
While there will be screaming by some -- that's something that can be quickly resolved and not just kicked further down the road.
We need to hear less philosophical, historical, hysterical, rhetorical, theoretical, politically correct Bullshit and hear somebody say what will actually be done.
We elected people to run the Town -- and if we don't like them we can elect somebody else. The point is these elected people need to take a stand --- it ain't supposed to be a popularity contest.
I think the BOS did the right thing by putting their foot down and saying "no more money".
It's not about charging fees, or not charging fees. At the risk of being blunt -- "if you want more money, drain the pool -- or raise the pool fees to covert the operating costs".
Let's move on ...
Flipper - From all the meetings I watched,especially over the past 3 years,I have taken away a different take on the CS issue.
When the previous director "left", the prev. super put 2 highly paid co-directors in place. Then the take over of "money making" courses by the SC. Leaving the CS with a deficit. I also remember at one mtg. when it was put out there the inkind services given by the CS. Money out of their pocket to give the schools services or items, a new stage curtain comes to mind. Everyone benefits from that. But that is never mentioned. As far as the pool - I also have a bit of a different outlook. If the pool were to close, first off our students who are fabulous athletes and have been champions, will lose out, but the other thing I remember hearing is that the pool machinery assists in heating the school itself. So a couple of things, utilities will go up,If we allow the students to continue swimming, the schools face ALL of the maintenence costs. To me it's funny how it was ok to use the CS money for school costs but everyone freaks when a penny goes to assist with the pool which the students do use. I don't recall school money being used for adult education, ie. actual class room instruction, just "assistance" with the pool which our students also use. I honestly think a few people have really blown the whole thing out of proportion and seem to have a vendetta against the CS. Yes, the CS needs to be self funding, I'd like to see if the new director can accomplish that, but I'm sure he'll need a few months to fix the mess he walked into. Same with the new super - he walked into the fires of hell and like anybody in a new position will need time to sort things out. No its not perfect, but nor has it been for years. My feeling is when the previous super gave back money to the town instead of encumbering it for say sped tuitions, she threw the incoming super an anchor in already deep water. That money amount (?$180,000) would have saved the SC from adding fees. The other problem I have with the BOS saying no is that with the contract situation the schools are suppose to be able to give a cost of living increase for 2013, 0-0-3% I think is how the town did their contracts, but now the schools can't follow suit with only a 1.3% increase from the town. I'm sure everyone would like to "move on", but fair is fair on that issue.
I'm going to chime in on this one myself to try to clear up some of the nonsense in the prior post.
In no particular order:
1 -- There were three administrators at the Community School. When the last one left that number was reduced to two. That's one less body, not one more body.
2 -- Any "in kind" contributions were nowhere near equivalent to the costs of the utilities supplied to the Community School & pool by the School District.
3 -- The School District did absorb a portion of the pool operating costs to cover use by the swim team. Just because we have a swim team doesn't mean we need a pool -- Do we have a hockey rink? Any other area high schools have a pool?
4 -- I agree that the money give-back was stupid. BUT, that didn't happen until the Fall Town Meeting. The School Committee or new Superintendent could have easily stopped that.
5 -- The "take over of money-making courses" you refer to -- that was the School Department offering Full Day Kindergarten at a fraction of the cost of the Community School's program. Are you saying they should have continued to overcharge pre-school parents to fund the pool?
6 --- Another course the School District briefly took over was Drivers Ed. That course was taught by an outside firm in a classroom maintained by the School District, yet all profit was given to the Community School. Why shouldn't the District hire the outside firm itself, cover its costs and reduce the fees to parents? Again, should they have continued to overcharge parents to fund pool operations?
7 -- The teachers contract has been under negotiation for three years. I am sure if they had settled two years ago when everybody else did -- the Town may have been a little more willing to provide funding. As a condition of signing he last contract, the union leadership was was required to sign a statement acknowledging that the contract was not affordable based on current staffing levels and would result in the loss of jobs. They didn't care.
8 --- There is a basic issue that under state law, that School budgets must pay for K-12 operations not Community School Programs. The law also says that any revenue generated from the use of school facilities must be used to maintain those facilities. You can't rent out school facilities and use the money to subsidize a swimming program.
None of this information is new --- unfortunately, very few people will pay attention until they are directly affected. Maybe that will change when the first bill for fees arrives?
Mr. Simmons, thanks for some clarification, But...
1) As I understand it, the co-directors got quite a raise with the change.
2) I have posted before that other groups don't pay fees for facilities use- therefore the schools pay for the util. and custodians for them, but thats NOT a problem?!
3)Yes there isn't a rink, but lets look at the cost of a bus to take our players to a HOME game. I'm sure with our new track we might see some savings on travel.
4) From my perspective, the SC had very little control over what the previous super did or didn't do. Things were usually already done or in place before it was even brought to the SC. And the money was a done deal before July 1.
5-6) I don't believe all "excess" fees are to pay for the pool - when my child took drivers ed out of town, all the costs were the same.
7) Agreed
8)Once again like 5 and 6, "rent" pays for custodians etc. doubt it ALL goes to the pool.
Yes the info is not new, but it's funny how people look at things differently and with a different perspective. Thanks for letting me view mine.
I'll pay my fees to keep programs up to date, to keep staff to teach the programs and classroom sizes within the norms.
1 -- you are correct, but the raises received were still considerably less than the cost of payroll & benefits for the three people.
2 -- I agree; its not fair that EVERY group not pay fees. The SC wouldn't back that change. I disagreed with it then and I still disagree with it. BUT therte is also a legal distinction because the Community School generates revenue from the space -- the other groups don't.
3 -- The Pool lost $128,000 in 2009, the last time there was an audit done. That deficit was funded by "excess" revenue from other course offerings. I'm pretty sure we aren't saving $128,000 for busses to swim meets.
4 -- She talked abouty it -- but that refund was done at Fall Town Meeting after the former Supt. left. The Committee also has the ability to stop the Supt if they so choose -- assuming they have the votes.
5,6 & 8 -- See #3 above.
Thanks Bob. Run Flipper!
Let's do a write in for Flipper like some are organizing for Sherry.
Wow! I seem to have created a little tempest in a teapot !
None of this is news --- nobody pays attention. THAT is why dopes keep getting elected and making the same speeches about nothing. Most of them don't understand the issues --let alone potential solutions.
Just more talk, talk, talk. Stop talking and DO SOMETHING!!
From one dope to another flipper. What would be your first step?
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