WHAT TOUGH TIMES

Bread Line
We read in the Pilot that Dr. Liverman finds much to be proud of in tough times. Fact is he as the head man hasn't faced "tough" times yet. Up until now he has had his way with money providers and the records show very few bragging rights as our system manages to stay near the bottom regarding truancy and student SOL measurements. The School Board members have served as ever-applauding fans and apparently regard him highly. But I don't expect them to be much help as genuine tough times close in. Finding ways to offset the ten million shortage could easily include elimination of Board positions, compensation and sizable chunks of all administrative salaries. The "IS" candidate for the School Board, Debra Wahlstrom, generously offered her list of 34 sensible ways to cut costs.

RIF in Suffolk Public Schools

One of the questions recently posted on the district’s website is related to staff reductions:  If staff reductions happen, how are decisions made on who is laid off?  By eliminated or reduced program?  By seniority?  The district’s answer:  Please follow this link to the School Board's regulations on Reduction in Force.

In a nutshell, The School Board’s regulation related to Reduction in Force (RIF) states that the reductions will be made based on seniority.

Section 514.2.

Reduction in Force Generally –

A. Unless otherwise provided for herein, the procedures relating to reduction in force within an active assignment shall be applied separately and independently for employees on continuing contract and for employees on annual contract. Fulltime and parttime employees shall be considered by cumulative service credit and by length of contract.

B. Whenever it is determined that it is necessary to lay off employees in an active assignment,all employees on annual contract shall be laid off before any employees on continuing contract are laid off. Employees on shorter contracts shall be laid off before employees on longer contracts. Length of day shall not be a factor in the designation of length of service.

There is another piece of the regulations that also speaks to the endorsements a teacher holds, but that’s it.  There is no RIF based on performance in the classroom.

Interestingly, to be called back to the school district, the district looks at a completely different set of factors, including a teacher’s performance.

Section 514.11

Recall for teachers. Teachers who are laid off shall be placed on a recall list

ranked by a) performance factors that include job knowledge, skill and ability to perform the job as documented in the employee’s three most recent performance evaluations; (b) the employee’s work history in terms of documented disciplinary actions or performance deficiencies as contained in the Human Resources personnel file; and (c) employee’s participation in relevant conferences, workshops, trainings, to improve the employees overall job performance with endorsement area(s) designated for each person.

Personally, I think our students are better off if we begin a RIF with those who do not perform their jobs as well as others.  The data and the information is there; it’s used to develop the recall list.  If we truly want the best for our students, don’t we want to make sure we have the best teachers in the classroom?  And if we’ve got to reduce the force (layoffs) don’t we want to layoff those who are underperformers rather than good performers?

34 WAYS TO CUT SCHOOL COSTS.

http://insidesuffolk.community.officelive.com/Documents/letter-suffolk-school-board-budget.pdf

In her letter to the School Board Debra Wahlstrom cited many sensible ways to trim much from the present school budget. They are worth a read by any taxpayer. Certainly the School Board should pay close attention, and the Superintendent. You can read them by COPYING AND POSTING IN YOUR search engine.


And you can also see the School budget by clicking on the blue wording in Debra's Post A STEP IN THE RIGHT DIRECTION.

SCHOOLS SHORT MONEY BUT PHOENIX RISES

If Forbes is frustrated at having been unable to arrest out-of-control spending in Washington that adds thousands of dollars to each family’s portion of the national debt, then why not stop spending? If City Mothers are concerned about impending reductions to state and federal programs why exacerbate the situation by allowing spending for the Phoenix Bank restoration NOW? That money will come from the same fast emptying pot. We are certain that the late Helen Daughtrey, the former NAACP branch vice president, was wise enough to see the folly of picking a bad time like now. But City Mothers shared the good news with the congressman on Friday that the project is almost ready for construction. That’s a good place to leave it, almost. Unless it is one of those shovel ready projects that will enhance local businesses and put local people to work.

The Public Education Funding Model Was Already Broken. The Overspending Induced Recession Just Made This Fact Impossible to Hide!

The local papers are full of wailing and gnashing of teeth over Governor McDonnell’s proposed budget cuts to public school spending but nobody is suggesting how to deal with a multi-billion dollar difference in the revenue coming in and the continued overspending! Those living at the expense of others very predictably demand that the municipal and Commonwealth spending sprees of the past continue! At the same time, those of us paying the bills have seen the real values of our homes fall by a minimum of 20% to as high as over 30%, yet municipal assessors continue to cherry pick the high value sales and generate assessments based on these "comparables” that defy economic reality while ignoring all the foreclosures and the bankruptcy induced distressed sales that end up at a fraction of the original sale price. How is this any different than an individual getting to represent his own financial condition as healthy while ignoring all the bounced checks? It doesn’t take a CPA to figure out that the over-assessments of private property continue only to fund continued municipal over-spending using revenue generated by those assessments!

Clearly public school Districts and School Boards have continued to spend the public's money as if it were Monopoly money. Suffolk chose to build a $46 million dollar Kings Fork High School when there was a competing bid on the table that would have cost less than $35 million. They do it all the time. Similarly, every Teacher’s Union and public school District that I am aware of shuns any discussion of merit pay to reward and retain best performers while also signaling deadwood and the ill performing that perhaps they need to be looking into a different career. Even more absurd, every School District insists on raising pay for everybody in the system by the same percentage rate even thought this fails to put additional funds where they are needed most. But the education bureaucrats making over $100,000 also end up with a numerically higher pay hike that is totally unjustified and numerically dwarfs the pay hikes of all the Special Education, science, math, history, and English teachers who are directly responsible for retention, graduation, and disciplinary achievements of the school system. They are the individuals who are working the hardest and making the difference—not those who discovered early on that all the lucrative rewards in public education go to those who manage to escape the classroom! Every fat education bureaucrat or School Board member sporting a $500 suit is willing to proclaim to anyone willing to listen that there is simply no way to determine performance differences between individuals working for them. But when every leader in a successful private sector firm has been doing exactly this for many decades, this only further highlights the total lack of intellectual honesty and managerial competence at all levels of public education today! Little of the performance and management philosophy coming out of public education bureaucrats and teachers unions today passes the straight face test. It is developed by people who have learned nothing more than how to justify increased spending every year without tying revenue to performance! In richer areas where education waste inflicts less pain on the community, the paying public have larger concerns to deal with. But in many parts of Hampton Roads, and especially in Suffolk, continued lousy education at ever increasing costs has gone beyond painful to intolerable! And in a recession there is no place to hide the ugly truth. It’s not a funding problem; it’s a performance problem. And since most Districts have been unable to improve performance with greatly increased funding over the past decades, cutting that funding will only force School Districts to cut spending where it won’t make a difference. The unfortunate fact is that most public school educators today have no idea where they have been wasting all the money because they have never successfully tied funding to performance in the first place. Sucks to be them!!

TELL ME IT AIN'T SO

Suffolk school administrators had figured their 2010 budget would be scary but it turned out, if the new Governor sticks his guns, to be chaotic, heads might roll. How else to offset the proposed new five billion reduction in available dollars? Upon hearing the news Dr. Liverman said he was disappointed, not surprised. They had calculated a 1.85 million drop in state funds. Now it appears “do without” adds up to around 9 million, a number that will not be made up from the city coffers. It is not at all funny but it’s happening nationwide. Layoffs and salary cuts can’t be avoided unless there are severe curriculum eliminations. Some will say it is impossible and perhaps it is. The March 4 budget analyzing and evaluating meeting will certainly be interesting. The only reason the city is not facing the same dilemma is because so far they have refused to lower assessments letting home and business owners take the rap.

JUST A REMINDER

These citizens are currently holding important positions in the City of Suffolk. Will there be challenges by qualified citizens. Are these current office holders qualified to make important decisions concerning our government and Public Schools? Unless you are content with their contribution you should be thinking about becoming a candidate or encouraging someone you think is up to the task. We know that Joe Barlow, a good man, will not run if he considers a challenger capable.

The Black community has for years complained about getting the short end of the stick and it is long past time it wakes up to the fact that Councilman Brown is as good an orator as Obama and equally effective. He needs to give others a chance to be even more successful.

The School Board needs strong citizens that will not accept the fact that Suffolk so often is at the bottom of rating charts...people with the courage to challenge the administration rather than become part of it. Click on picture to enlarge

INTRODUCING "IS" CANDIDATE FOR SCHOOL BOARD

Deborah Wahlstrom is president of Successline Inc., a company that provides training and consulting services to schools and school districts in the areas of student assessment, data-based school improvement, instructional strategies, and curriculum alignment. Her practical hands-on workshops have been highly acclaimed. As a past winner of two National School Boards Association awards for 100 Best Curriculum Ideas in the country, Deborah continues to design and deliver only the highest-quality training. She has also received awards for her work in research and evaluation. In addition to numerous other honors and recognitions, Deborah received a Distinguished Faculty Award from the Center for Global Business and Executive Education at Old Dominion University in Norfolk, Virginia.

Before opening her own business, Deborah taught at the middle school level for Norfolk and Virginia Beach City Public Schools; served as a science specialist at the elementary level for Virginia Beach City Public Schools; served as Director of Research, Evaluation, and Communications for Portsmouth Public Schools; and served as a regional staff development facilitator for the Virginia Department of Education. Dr. Wahlstrom earned her doctorate in Urban Services (1988) from Old Dominion University in Norfolk, Virginia.

LIGHT AT THE END OF THE TUNNEL HAS BEEN TURNED OFF

I was thinking about those unfortunate families without job income and my mind drifted back to 1925 when I was born just in time for the GREAT Depression. Nothing has come close to that one; 1929 right up to World War II in 1941. Much of the problem was said to be employee shortage of education but to be fair there wasn’t a lot of technical manufacturing going on and most employment was on the job training. Even during Roosevelt’s third term the no job rate was 12%. Nothing the government did got us out of the hole. War made the difference and the population proved it was willing to work twelve-hour days producing war materials. The population was only 133 million with about 16 million in the military. During that depression the unemployment was 22%.

Families traveled anyway they could to find jobs and life for many was a miserable existence. Hundreds of thousands lost everything, including their dignity, and the nation could not even extend a helping hand. With our nation trillions in debt we are deep in the woods and facing more taxes that cannot possibly end our debt to foreign nations. If the expected inflation takes place we might see 1929 again. Are you ready? PS - - Due to recent budget cuts and the rising cost of electricity, gas and oil, as well as current market conditions, the Light at the End of the Tunnel has been turned off.

THIS GEM FOUND IN THE SNH TODAY

"When it comes to properly funding education in our country, we find ourselves working off a broken system, a system slowed by bureaucracy, special interests, bloated systems and unrealistic expectations. In recent months we have challenged our school leaders to examine every expenditure down to the penny. We have challenged them to look at every administrative salary, validate every perk or fluff in the budget. And, we have asked that every savings found, every penny picked up in the parking lot, be reinvested into the classroom, into teacher salaries and advanced programs."

We can all agree on the "broken system." But the question remains...what percentage of the budget is NOT spent on teachers.

STEP IN THE RIGHT DIRECTION ???

SUFFOLK Schools Superintendent Milton Liverman on Thursday released a $148.4 million budget proposal that he described as a "best-case scenario." That kind of statement suggests that we can expect no more out of him, the door is closed on financial considerations. Can we assume the School Board agrees, they always have. And surely our Council will add or subtract nothing, as is their usual contribution to consideration of the school budget. We can expect an OK from them as well as a sign of relief that the educational situation is in good hands. Maybe all hands are satisfied because of the plan that school board and Council get together at least once each year.

Click here to review Suffolk's Proposed Budget for 2010-2011.

Don't be surprised if "Inside Suffolk" endorses a School Board candidate. One highly qualified to occupy that position. "IS" has often been accused of "talking" a good game but not offering ourselves as candidates for anything. This year we step into the fray, again. You missed an opportunity to elect a qualified, interested, and serious contender, Roger Leonard but that is forgivable in light of the fact that enough voters erred by electing the current President.

SOMETHING SMELLS

It’s surprising to hear people complain about the smell in their neighborhood when they live next to chemical plants, industrial parks, a swamp and a major regional land fill. The residents living in the vicinity of Wilroy Road are doing just that and demanding answers. Unless they couldn’t see the growing mountains of refuse, lacked the sense to smell or the previous owner was less than reputable when they sold them their home, the residents understood they were living in a neighborhood surrounded by warehouses, industry and a major land fill.
So what is causing the problem? Some blame it on the unusually wet weather that created foul smelling pools. Others point to SPSA’s inability to satisfactorily bury garbage with frozen earth, or the prevailing wind direction. Still others say it’s the very cold air temperature at night creating a blanket effect that prevents gases and odors from dissipating. Nevertheless the residents are owed a satisfactory explanation. They need to feel safe they aren’t being unnecessarily exposed to health problems. Commuters traveling I-64 near the J. Clyde Morris Blvd. exit have also noticed the strong odor from the adjacent land fill, so this problem may not be unique to Suffolk.

Deme Panogopulus

WRITE YOUR OWN POST AS A COMMENT

Over the 12 year period when I wrote columns for the SNH, I survived four editors and there was more than one conversation between us about the city of Suffolk Administration exercising control over what the SNH printed about local government. There is much city information that could or could not be placed in the SNH for public consumption, legal notices for an example. I know that many of my column's paragraphs were scrubbed, censored, because they took issue with city activities. The word they used as an excuse to cut was “strong language.” When I would offer to tune it down a smidgen they often preferred to just leave it out. They were in business to make a profit and my little column was never allowed to stand in the way by printing the facts. After twelve years of free columns for them I finally told one editor to stuff it. Recently a reader made the charge that the Mayor dictated terms to the editor and we allowed his opinion to run until we checked it out. The editor said it was fiction, and the mayor denied it emphatically. So we pulled the POST that had been written anonymously. Had the writer used his name and sent his email address we would have allowed it to stand. We would have withheld his email address, and perhaps toned his/her Post down if necessary. Feel like writing one? Just write in the comment section and label it "POST."

YOU CAN WRITE A POST ON INSIDE SUFFOLK

Yes you can write a post here just as IS team members do, with the same conditions. Any subject that may be important to Suffolk Citizens is OK but you must stick your neck out as we do by including your name. And because it is possible to use any persons name we expect the Post to be accompanied by your email address. We, of course, will not publish your email address but we will check it out with you. Persons who publish an opinion in any newspaper must supply that much info. We offer this because we can't be on top of everything important to our citizens. We do not gurantee publication of your Post but do not be bashful about trying. It really does beat doing nothing. Be a contributor.