I have heard from so many people that want to say the problem with the lay-offs is that they were made according to seniority. That is mostly true, the first employees to go were the ones with unsatisfactory evaluations and then by seniority. Hopefully, unsatisfactory employees were going to be fire anyway, but sometimes they are moved or given some more time. But during times of lay-offs, they are fired. What employees and the public have failed to hear or understand is that the CPSB is following state law. If the board used any type of evaluation other than unsatisfactory to determine who would be laid off, we would be breaking state law and then be flooded with rightful lawsuits. The State Law says we must lay-off employees according to seniority. Actually, that is the only objective measure. It is not fair to the employee who goes beyond satisfactory, but with so many supervisors evaluating; measuring an employee's degree of quality is often in the eye of the beholder; therefore open for bias.
That is why any supervisor who does not evaluate an unsatisfactory employee as such, is hurting a lot of people, including those who do a GREAT job everyday.
Where I differ with the method used, is that we separated secretaries into categories: Elementary schools, Middle Schools, High Schools, Central Office and Special Education. Therefore, just for example, an elementary school secretary with 10 years of experience may have been laid off and a middle school secretary with 7 years got to stay, because they were put into different categories. I am told our Board Attorney made that interpretation of the law. It may be challenged, but I believe if he made it, he did it for the right reasons.
What I really want to accomplish is to trim the Central Office travel budget, Professional Development budget, district owned vehicles and take home cars, and lay-off the same percentage of secretaries in Central Office. So far we have laid-off 7% of the secretaries in Central Office and 33% of them at our school sites. Since only Central Office staff made suggestions for the cuts, I think an obvious bias determined those lay-offs.
Also, many of those secretaries were actually the schools' bookkeepers as well. Keeping track of money really concerns me. So yes, I want to reinstate the schools' secretaries/bookkeepers.
It is true we have to cut back on employees. Our student enrollment has dropped over the past 20 years, so we need fewer schools and fewer employees. But why do we keep 3 non-rural high schools that have just 300 students in them when they should have 1000 students? Everyone is holding on to their school, even if they send their children across town to another one. Decisions should not be made about adults' history but instead the students' here and now and their future. I have long been a proponent of closing or changing Green Oaks to a K-8 and closing Woodlawn. These schools are making a loud sucking sound on the school district's budget. I was hopeful that because Dr. Dawkins is an outsider, he would propose that, but he fell victim to politics and came up with a very regretful Vision 2020 proposal. This causes such an imbalance in our classroom sizes. The underpopulated schools have 10-18 students in a class and the overpopulated have typically have 5-8 students above our teacher/pupil ratio and some there's a Spanish classes with 44.
The reason that I want to roll forward the property taxes is because I believe it is actually taxes that the voters have approved and owe. Caddo's teachers ranked in the top 10 in teacher pay in the state 20 years ago. We have dropped in our state ranking every year until now we are about 39th out of 69. You can see a correlation to the districts performance rankings and their teacher pay rankings. In most cases, the top 10 in performance are also the top 10 in teacher pay. The parishes around us pay more. We are also way behind in putting Smart Boards and other technology in the schools.
To sum it up, first I want the right number of schools. Then the budget to reflect a school site focus. And for parents, students and the taxpayers to believe that their money is spent to provide all students with access to a great school. Our school personnel is doing their jobs. But they are having to do more with less every year. Taxes have not been this low since 1958. I don't believe that is a bad thing, but there is no other way to fund public schools than by taxes.
http://www.usatoday.com/money/perfi/taxes/2011-05-05-tax-cut-record-low_n.htm
That is why any supervisor who does not evaluate an unsatisfactory employee as such, is hurting a lot of people, including those who do a GREAT job everyday.
Where I differ with the method used, is that we separated secretaries into categories: Elementary schools, Middle Schools, High Schools, Central Office and Special Education. Therefore, just for example, an elementary school secretary with 10 years of experience may have been laid off and a middle school secretary with 7 years got to stay, because they were put into different categories. I am told our Board Attorney made that interpretation of the law. It may be challenged, but I believe if he made it, he did it for the right reasons.
What I really want to accomplish is to trim the Central Office travel budget, Professional Development budget, district owned vehicles and take home cars, and lay-off the same percentage of secretaries in Central Office. So far we have laid-off 7% of the secretaries in Central Office and 33% of them at our school sites. Since only Central Office staff made suggestions for the cuts, I think an obvious bias determined those lay-offs.
Also, many of those secretaries were actually the schools' bookkeepers as well. Keeping track of money really concerns me. So yes, I want to reinstate the schools' secretaries/bookkeepers.
It is true we have to cut back on employees. Our student enrollment has dropped over the past 20 years, so we need fewer schools and fewer employees. But why do we keep 3 non-rural high schools that have just 300 students in them when they should have 1000 students? Everyone is holding on to their school, even if they send their children across town to another one. Decisions should not be made about adults' history but instead the students' here and now and their future. I have long been a proponent of closing or changing Green Oaks to a K-8 and closing Woodlawn. These schools are making a loud sucking sound on the school district's budget. I was hopeful that because Dr. Dawkins is an outsider, he would propose that, but he fell victim to politics and came up with a very regretful Vision 2020 proposal. This causes such an imbalance in our classroom sizes. The underpopulated schools have 10-18 students in a class and the overpopulated have typically have 5-8 students above our teacher/pupil ratio and some there's a Spanish classes with 44.
The reason that I want to roll forward the property taxes is because I believe it is actually taxes that the voters have approved and owe. Caddo's teachers ranked in the top 10 in teacher pay in the state 20 years ago. We have dropped in our state ranking every year until now we are about 39th out of 69. You can see a correlation to the districts performance rankings and their teacher pay rankings. In most cases, the top 10 in performance are also the top 10 in teacher pay. The parishes around us pay more. We are also way behind in putting Smart Boards and other technology in the schools.
To sum it up, first I want the right number of schools. Then the budget to reflect a school site focus. And for parents, students and the taxpayers to believe that their money is spent to provide all students with access to a great school. Our school personnel is doing their jobs. But they are having to do more with less every year. Taxes have not been this low since 1958. I don't believe that is a bad thing, but there is no other way to fund public schools than by taxes.
http://www.usatoday.com/money/perfi/taxes/2011-05-05-tax-cut-record-low_n.htm
I don't believe closing Woodlawn is the answer. With the right leadership the school can make a turn off. Black schools in New Orleans have made big turn arounds, being in the same state as Woodlawn and not having a 98% graduation rate. Look up Warren Easton High School in New Orleans.
ReplyDeleteGood explanation of the "laying off" procedures. Good to know that evaluations were looked at. Oh that EVERYONE would do THEIR job, from the top down, including parents & students. Maybe this is a reflection of our society as a whole: everyone wants the best and not every one wants to pay. In fact sometimes it seems like no one wants to pay...When my life is at risk, I'll go to the BEST doctor & I'll pay his/her price. Perhaps even more is at risk here. A whole society...SOMEONE is going to pay, either us here and now or our future generation. The result could be life or death, it'll definitely be wisdom or ignorance...Keep the faith Charlotte.
ReplyDeleteCharlotte, as you know I went to school in Louisiana but now live in Colorado. My wife is sort-a on the opposite side of this thing she works for the teacher's union in Colorado. For what it's worth we're seeing pretty much the same situation here and I'm told by friends in other states that they are seeing the same things happening there as well.
ReplyDeleteIt issue, the real underlying issue is that schools across the country are being underfunded. I'm not sure exactly why this is happening but it definitely is happening. Part of it is societal part (some people don't believe they should spend money supporting other people's kids) of it is political (politicians who see an opportunity by blaming the teacher's unions and balancing their budgets on the backs of students), part of it is religious (many religious types are offended that they don't get to dictate what students are taught in schools).
Whatever the cause, the result is there is less support for schools in general. I'm not sure what the solution is, but gutting schools is not the answer in the long run.
Somehow we have to get to a state where everyone see education as a right not a privilege and we as society commit ourselves to make sure everyone has a fair and equal opportunity to get a reasonable education.
What I'm afraid is happening is we are rapidly approaching a point where people are locked into whatever class they are born into. This should never happen in a democracy.
I know what I've said doesn't solve the immediate budget problems that you and others are dealing with. I totally understand the types of issues and tensions that are involved. I just think we have to step back and ask ourselves how did we get here in the first place. It's easy to lose sight of the bigger picture.
A friend of mine once told me, "It's hard to remember the reason you went out there in the first place was to drain the swamp when you're up to your neck in alligators."