How to ruin your school district in 6 easy steps

[Slew Foot]

You really think that adinistrators and beauracrats who get to make the rules would cut their own jobs or salaries?

 

[unokitty]

Well - its only near Detroit It would be a bit before we would leave though. My father is staying with us when he gets his chemo treatment at the hospital and I won't consider moving away while he is dealing with this but after that? We'll see...

She teaches HS math and spanish. There are some ways around the issue (Putting the test on the overhead and making the kids write their answers/showing their work on a blank piece of paper) but with so many at risk kids there is a lot of concern among the teachers that pushing more of the academic preparation/responsibility burden on them will negatively impact scores given the already low engagement levels. Not saying they won't try just that the people running the school seem to have lost sight of the purpose of a school.

Didn't realize that you weren't in Detroit.

A few decades ago, I worked in St. Joseph, MI for Heathkit/Zenith. Even then, Detroit had a sketchy reputation.

Though, there are many nice areas in Michigan and I might be tempted to return. But the Detroit situation seems pretty random to me. And I don't see any positive dynamics in play there.

That said. Its a big country and there are places where the schools are still growing.

Best of luck,
Uno

 

[Gibsons]

wouldnt suprise me. there was a article in chicago paper about stuff like this. There are many new administrative jobs that make no sense. they make 100k+ and do nothing.

In university settings they're sometimes called "deanlets," official titles are things like Vice president for xyz, assistant dean etc. They get hired to improve things when the budget is healthy, then when the budget takes a dive, they lay off teachers.

 

[shortylickens]

You really think that adinistrators and beauracrats who get to make the rules would cut their own jobs or salaries?

You'd have to bypass all the school officials and go straight to state level.

 

[MaxPayne63]

It sounds like the people in charge of the district are corrupt and the stupid ones are the local residents who put up with them.

 

[Red Squirrel]

Wow that sounds pretty terrible. For the copying, the teachers should get together and agree that when they need to make a copy, they should do it on their lunch or other spare time and charge it back to the school + their gas to get to the copy centre. Should get the message across.

 

[OverVolt]

Time for her to move to a private school or a new career.

If you pay out of pocket you are paying for school twice. Once in taxes and again from take home pay.

And its sad that it is worth it to pay that much to get around the bad school system.

 

[highland145]

If you pay out of pocket you are paying for school twice. Once in taxes and again from take home pay.

And its sad that it is worth it to pay that much to get around the bad school system.

True but I do and I'm happy. Our property taxes are really low compared to other parts of the country and my kids school is ~$5500/year. 15 kids/class, teachers can teach instead of babysit, unruly kids are invited to not come back.

 

[mnewsham]

True but I do and I'm happy. Our property taxes are really low compared to other parts of the country and my kids school is ~$5500/year. 15 kids/class, teachers can teach instead of babysit, unruly kids are invited to not come back.

That isn't a bad price, but in this area you would be hard pressed to find that the closest private school to me is $22,000 a year for grades 1-5, it jumps to around $25k at 6-8th grade, 9-12 is $27k.
This is a day school only (no boarding).

This is comparable with other schools in the area.

And property taxes are probably more too :\

 

[JimKiler]

Kids - according to the sun dial its time to get out your abacus



Admin is non-unionized. The union is fighting and managed to reduce the teacher cuts but they can't force the school to make cuts in other areas. The only other option appears to be rejecting the proposal and forcing a state takeover. Given that the state threatened to just close the entire school district any lay everyone off I dont see that happening. I really don't think the state could justify closing a district with 16 schools but enough people got scared for their jobs so the union didn't have the votes necessary to pull that off

I say call the states bluff. Even if they dissolve the district (which might be the best option) other districts would absorb these students thus teachers would need to be hired. And it is hard to think the other districts could do worse. Students would benefit.

 

[highland145]

That isn't a bad price, but in this area you would be hard pressed to find that the closest private school to me is $22,000 a year for grades 1-5, it jumps to around $25k at 6-8th grade, 9-12 is $27k.
This is a day school only (no boarding).

This is comparable with other schools in the area.

And property taxes are probably more too :\

You'd want to slap me if you knew what my property tax is.

 

[Exterous]

Best of luck,
Uno

Thanks

You really think that adinistrators and beauracrats who get to make the rules would cut their own jobs or salaries?

Well, you occasionally run across one who will do whats in the best interest of the students...

Wow that sounds pretty terrible. For the copying, the teachers should get together and agree that when they need to make a copy, they should do it on their lunch or other spare time and charge it back to the school + their gas to get to the copy centre. Should get the message across.

So the school can deny the reimbursement? I think not.

 

[Exterous]

I say call the states bluff. Even if they dissolve the district (which might be the best option) other districts would absorb these students thus teachers would need to be hired. And it is hard to think the other districts could do worse. Students would benefit.

We were willing to but not enough other teachers were. And it would be worse for a lot of people, teachers and students alike, if the school was dissolved. Many of the kids would go back to DPS schools and no one wants to teach/attend there if they can avoid it.

 

[sunzt]

How's the education?

Maryland's Montgomery County Public Schools contains 30 high schools. The district contains 11 schools that received gold, silver, or bronze medals in U.S. News's Best High Schools rankings.

http://www.usnews.com/education/bes...nd/districts/montgomery-county-public-schools

It's one if the best districts in the nation.

 

[highland145]

Maryland's Montgomery County Public Schools contains 30 high schools. The district contains 11 schools that received gold, silver, or bronze medals in U.S. News's Best High Schools rankings.

http://www.usnews.com/education/bes...nd/districts/montgomery-county-public-schools

It's one if the best districts in the nation.

Money well spent. S.C. public ed....not so much.

 

[T_Yamamoto]

Hmm...

In 2010-11, Wake budgeted $8,307 per student, but spent $7,561.

WOO we the best.

 

[marvdmartian]

Probably a matter of the copiers being leased, so getting rid of them will cut the lease costs.

I'm really amazed that the staff & maintenance positions have grown, without twice as much growth in the administrator positions. It's usually the chiefs that think that, so long as there's plenty of them to lead, you can get rid of damn near every indian, and become more "efficient".

 

[Scarpozzi]

About the copies...I wonder if someone signed a blanket agreement for leased copiers and regretted it. Ex $2000/month per copier for 4000 copies. 5 cents for each page over the limit.... I've seen those contracts in higher education kill a budget because of a service agreement to cover toner and sometimes paper.

Xerox offers that level of service and it gets costly quick.

 

[notposting]

Man...Detroit Metro...ground zero for your career going to hell. Sorry to hear about how shitty it's going for her. My wife's sister is working on getting into teaching, I suspect she may end up out of state or somewhere else when it's all said and done.

My wife can't find a job as a nurse. I pretty much gave up hope for electrical construction being able to provide for us after finishing my apprenticeship. Turn out the lights? Hell, hope you don't go down with the ship around here!

 

[mnewsham]

About the copies...I wonder if someone signed a blanket agreement for leased copiers and regretted it. Ex $2000/month per copier for 4000 copies. 5 cents for each page over the limit.... I've seen those contracts in higher education kill a budget because of a service agreement to cover toner and sometimes paper.

Xerox offers that level of service and it gets costly quick.

Which is why for 10-12th grade I fixed the 2 high speed copiers at my school. Replaced toner, helped teachers with jams (they aren't THAT difficult). And mostly just do regular maintenance to keep it working.

My school system decided it would be cheaper to hire a high school kid, pay 'em $2k in the summer to learn how to fix the things and then during the school year make us fix the copiers during 1 period set aside for this duty.


Only reason I did it was because I had completed all the other computer hardware classes (Cisco A+ course) and it gave me $2k + a "free" period.

One of the other perks was that I was technically an employee of the school system, that employee badge was put to good use my senior year....

 

[Yreka]

Frustrating, poor teachers.

Its frustrating on the other side as well. Locally we keep pouring more and more money into the school system, it seems like less and less actually make it to the classroom.

I think education is one of the best things we can invest in as a society, but it seems like there is so much waste in-between our checkbooks and the kids. Our poor teachers making 30-75k per year are having to come out of pocket thousands of dollars in supplies for their classrooms. At the same time superintendents who make 250k per year are given expense accounts 1k+ per month and still stick the district with unneeded expenses above and beyond that.
http://www.utsandiego.com/news/2011/apr/04/schools-chief-charges-meals-despite-allowance/

Its getting harder every year to justify simply throwing more money at the system. Personally, we have started voting NO on all the new school related taxes, and donate more directly to our kids classroom in time and supplies.

 

[lothar]

How's the education?

Overrated.
Howard county and Carroll county provide much better education for the dollar.

 

[lothar]

True but I do and I'm happy. Our property taxes are really low compared to other parts of the country and my kids school is ~$5500/year. 15 kids/class, teachers can teach instead of babysit, unruly kids are invited to not come back.

If it only costs $5,500/year, I question what your private school teaches...
http://www.mcdonogh.org/

 

[mnewsham]

Overrated.
Howard county and Carroll county provide much better education for the dollar.

Personally I agree, Howard county schools especially.

The reason MCPS usually ranks better is because in MCPS they force students to sign up for AP classes (and require written consent from parent, teacher, and one administrator to drop it)

The way those rankings work is part of the score is determined by the % of students signing up for AP tests (which my school basically forces if you were in an AP class). So we have 45-55% of students taking AP tests when probably only 20% really should be.

 

[lothar]

Maryland's Montgomery County Public Schools contains 30 high schools. The district contains 11 schools that received gold, silver, or bronze medals in U.S. News's Best High Schools rankings.

http://www.usnews.com/education/bes...nd/districts/montgomery-county-public-schools

It's one if the best districts in the nation.

Not sure if serious...

Anyone that wants to compare schools in Maryland, ignore the link above and use this one below.
http://msp.msde.state.md.us/index.aspx?K=06AAAA