This past Wednesday (7/15/09) I had another appointment to view school records. Of course I had to arrange the appointment with the I-SS attorney in Raleigh. It is a hassle to schedule appointments this way, but at least I am getting a better response to my requests to inspect school records. There was no observer in the room with me this time. Again, I spent much of the time reviewing invoices from Jim Shipley and Associates (JSA). I inspected some other documents as well and I will write about those in a later post.
Last time I looked at the JSA invoices dated from August 2003 to June 2005. In that two-year period, I-SS paid JSA $90,739.97 for Baldrige materials and training. This time I inspected the JSA invoices dated from July 2005 to May 2007. In this two-year period, I-SS paid JSA $114,008.40 for Baldrige materials and training.
Included this time were payments to have Brenda Clark provide training and consulting for a total of 14 days at $2,050.00 per day and payments to have Marty Moore provide training and consulting for a total of 22 days at $1,800.00 per day. There was even a payment to have Jim Shipley provide training and consulting for 2 days at $2,050.00 per day. Of course these individuals had to travel to Iredell County in order to provide this training. Thus, in addition to these daily rates, I-SS paid the travel expenses for Ms. Clark to make 7 round trips, for Ms. Clark to make 9 round trips, and for Mr. Shipley to make 1 round trip.
As in the previous two years, a number of I-SS administrators also traveled to Florida for Baldrige training. There was a registration payment of $1625.00 to JSA in May 2006 for five administrators to attend a two-day training session. And, there was a registration payment of $600.00 to JSA in April 2007 for three administrators to attend a different two-day training session. Since the travel expenses were not paid to JSA there was no invoice indicating the cost to send these administrators to Florida for the training.
I-SS is in the process of firing 65 teacher assistants. I think that these expenditures show that most, if not all, of these positions could have been saved if the school system was not spending an extraordinary amount of money to force students to endure the consequences of continuing the I-SS implementation of the Baldrige plan. As I mentioned before, there are thousands of school systems in this country achieving significant successes without using the Baldrige method.
It is unbelievable the amount of money that ISS has paid for something that is only somewhat effective. If we take out the scores of the lake schools, I am sure that we will find that the other schools in ISS have made very small gains if any during this time. That money could have been spent in personnel at the classroom level, supplies, and meaningful workshops for teachers. Looks like it is time for another letter to the editor.
ReplyDeleteDr. Holliday is gone . It is now important to become very involved in selecting the next superintendent. Halleluah!
ReplyDeleteWOW! I cannot believe all of the money that ISS has spent on Baldrige! Keep up the great work, Mr. Klaene!
ReplyDeleteBaldridge will not stop unless this board stops it. Just because Holliday is leaving, there will still be Baldridge supporters there in the Central office. It is time to let the board know we are serious, and it is time to clean house and start fresh. Get rid of the IFs before this school year starts, and you will see the teacher morale grow in ISS. Have a great day!
ReplyDelete1. hard to consider the baldrige system only "somewhat effective" when student/school performance has stedily increased since implementation and your school districts active budget balance has gone from a NEGATIVE $2.5B to a positive $9B. But hey, don't blame that on Buddy Coleman or anything, just blame it on the only person that's actually helped your kids in the past decade.
ReplyDelete2. do you honestly think the BoE is interested in any input you have on the next superintendent after you've already wasted so much of their time? honestly, learn how things work. the super is hired by the board not elected by the people. so maybe you should put in a little more time learning about your board candidates at the next election.
anon -- you're telling us that the ISS system has NINE BILLION in the bank? Seriously? In a state where the general assembly is squabbling over about 1.5 billion?
ReplyDeleteSharpen that pencil.
For one thing, there's no such thing as a NC school district being in the red. They can overspend but the county coffers have to cover the tab. And with the NC Association of County Commissioners recommending that LEAs have close to a zero fund balance, I can assure you there isn't nine million in the bank not to mention the whopper figure of nine billion.
To the 10:37 poster...
ReplyDelete1. wondering what direct expereience you have with Baldrige. Unless you hae "lived it" don't presume knowledge about what factors have improved test scores. I can assure you, Baldrige is not the reason. Dependng upon who is doing the analyzing, numbers can be manupulated to prove whatever the individual manipulator of the moment wishes. My kids have been helped by dedicated teachers...not by one dictorial individual who has never even taught in an academic classroom and consequently actually knows very little about what he preaches on so very often.
2. The BoE had better pay attention to its constituents....did a coup take place that I'm unaware of? The board exists to be the servants of the people...ALL of the people, not just the ivory tower theorists who are never on the front lines of education.
3. Loose the condescening attitude...most of us have had quite enough of that over the past seven years.
*typos corrected (apologies, I typed too quickly):
ReplyDeleteexperience
have
depending
manipulated
condescending
*lose
ReplyDeletetypos on all parts... megative $2.5M and $9M
ReplyDeletehaha.. Negative
ReplyDeleteA huge thank you to Paul Klaene! The average Iredell County tax-payer has way too much on her/his plate to do the time-consuming digging that Mr. Klaene is doing for us.
ReplyDeleteEspecially in light of these fiscally trying times, has there been ANY explanation/justification by the school board for:
1) the exorbitant rate of increase of central office personnel / salaries over the past seven years?
2) the outrageous amount of money doled out to JSA aka Baldrige (What a racket!)
We'll see how and if things change now that Holliday is calling 'Old Kentucky Home"...
Keep up the excellent work Mr. Klaene.. and know that we are grateful.
HE GONE! As a teacher in the district, this is such amazing news. I hope that we can go back to teaching with enthusiasm and passion again. I know that I'm looking forward to that.
ReplyDeleteHow ironic .. just as the cut Teachers Assistants receive their pink slip via certified mail, Holliday gets a new job and an increase in pay! Hey his wifes salary alone will fund 4.6 TA salaries.
ReplyDelete"wondering what direct expereience you have with Baldrige. Unless you hae "lived it" don't presume knowledge about what factors have improved test scores. I can assure you, Baldrige is not the reason"
ReplyDeleteWerent those dedicated teachers you are giving the sole credit to around before Dr. Holliday...just checking.
In an article in the Charlotte paper dated 2005, Dr. Holliday was bragging that we have 80% of our schools on level. Last week he announced that there are 77% on level. Unless you use the "new math" that the system had shoved down their throats, that is negative growth and not positive.
ReplyDeleteRemove the quality department and you will have a half million dollars to recover TAs. The quality department contracts won't have to be paid out, just have them be APs in the schools or fill in where we lost TAs.
ReplyDelete"Werent those dedicated teachers you are giving the sole credit to around before Holliday...just checking."
ReplyDeleteYour point? Numbers (as everyone knows) can be manipulated to make whatever you want to be, true.
Having two children of my own in the system, I am speaking from personal experience as to who deserves the credit for the success of my own --- and that would be the people that are in the classroom with them
Still waiting for you to explain the derivation of your views about Baldrige...thin air perhaps?
The performance was good enough for a board of an entire state to hire the man. Obviously that is not good enough for all of the people here who obviously know more, but it speaks volumes to me. Sure some things can change, we can use a little softer side on some of the stuff, and a bigger pat on the back now and then, but to have such a focus on students as some claim here requires more work. Plain and simple. Good thing we didn't get into this for the money bacuse that will never match what we do. The way it was done 20 years ago, or 9 for that matter when I started teaching will not work in the 21st century.
ReplyDeleteLet me summarize: over a four year time span, ISS paid $205K to Jim Shipley. That is on average 51K per year. That equates to less then 1% of ISS's entirely yearly budget, which is way in excess of $150M. You further state that this money had not been spent, that all 65 TA's could be saved. So that would mean that each TA made $3,200. Get Real!!!
ReplyDeleteIn my post I did talk of the amounts paid to JSA, however in my final comment I referred to the extraordinary amount of money that I-SS spent in the implementation of the Baldrige plan. As I, and others, have stated, this included much more than what was paid to JSA. There were several administrators hired just to support Baldrige. There were other consultants paid to support Baldrige. There was an untold amount of money used to send I-SS administrators to Florida and other states for Baldrige training and conferences, and the list goes on. Much of this money is buried in multiple I-SS accounts. I doubt that we will ever know the true total of these expenditures.
ReplyDeleteWow, this blog is full of ignorance. No wonder your hearts are so full of hate! Klaene, you claim you are for what is best for ISS....I think it is a personal vendetta....why would you call Kentucky and try to discredit Dr. Holliday, you would think you would call with praise to get rid of him. You supposedly spent hours pouring over cell phone bills this week of the district, why bother? it is a flat rate per phone. If someone calls their kids at lunch and it costs the district nothing additional - what is the problem. I think you are just living on the drama. I will pray for you and all of the others who are so filled with hate - it is scary that these are the people that claim they are for our children...so full of hate! This coming from a man who most of the MCC staff said "YEAH" when you were forced to retire from MCC...hmmmm
ReplyDeleteit is amazing to see people brag on here about the number of hits on the website. It is because most of Iredell county is laughing at you and logs on to get a daily kick out of the morons who think they are being taken seriously. I noticed that Paul was the only one dressed in red, white & blue at the board meeting. that should show you your "solidarity"
ReplyDeleteAdd up all the invoices that were paid to JSA from 2003-2007 and it comes to $206,973.37. Then add on Brenda Clark(who was hired from JSA) $129,900, Marty Moore(hired from JSA) $105,000, and Jeb Stus(who was hired to oversee Denise Holliday)$92,000 and you have a grand total of $533,873.37. This is without all the hotel, plane fare, rental car, and meals that the system has paid for. That would pay for 26 TA's. That is assuming that they all make $20,000 a year. I am sure that most TA's would love to make that a year. The salaries alone would cover 16 TA's a year.
ReplyDeleteDoes ISS get all of that $150+m in one big bank account to spend as they see fit? Don't think so. In one post here ISS is praised for making a land purchase with money that can only be used for that purpose. What funds were used to pay these expenses? I bet if you do the research it is in some account that can't even be used to pay TA's...maybe it's "training" money. If not spent on this, it is spent on some other training that noone will like. This is yet another issue with how schools are funded from the state, not an ISS issue. Nothing will ever please everybody.
ReplyDeleteSuch vitriolic comments...is someone worried about a superfluous position being eliminated?
ReplyDeleteTo the blogger above regarding $150 million in one big bank account. Please try to understand these comments. We all know how the money is earmarked and how it can and can't be spent. What we are talking about is changing the process of how it can be used. That will take work at a level above ISS. I think most can agree that we are experiencing difficult times that will require "thinking outside the box". Please don't imply that we are ignorant or unable to please. Our goal is to restore soundness to the classroom where it benefits the students and their ability learn, grow and succeed.
ReplyDeleteI don't recall ever hearing Paul or myself(Janey Munday) saying that we hate Dr. Holliday. What we did not like was what he has done to our system. Being a retired educator, I spent 5 yrs. under the Baldrige Model of Performance Excellance. No matter how hard we worked at our school, it was never enough. We were not given the chance to use the parts of the program that we thought would benefit our students. We were told to do all of it or else. I talk to teachers from all over Iredell County on a regularly. I have yet to hear one positive comment about Baldrige. I hear defeat, and unrest in voices and see unhappiness on their faces. I see teachers who love teaching not looking forward to going back to school in August. It has nothing to do with the students or the work associated with teaching but everything to do with all the paperwork that Baldrige entails. Teachers who say that they have already been told that because the scores weren't good enough, they can expect more and more data collecting and discuss. I see teachers who dread the early release days because they know that those days will be spent in more Baldrige drilling. No opportunities to go to workshops that actually discuss instructional learning as in new and interesting ways to teach. No opportunities to choose what they want to learn about. That is what we are fighting to change.
ReplyDeleteThat person cannot ever be for the students of ISS. That person is definitely for herself or himself. Noone else counts. So forget it. No use to talk to a brainwashed person. He or she will never be able to think for themselves. Talk about change. It is not in their vocabulary. It is called "Me"(my way or no way") only.
ReplyDeleteThis is to the person who accused me of calling Kentucky and trying to discredit Dr. Holliday. I do have relatives in Kentucky but I have not made any calls (or e-mails) to anyone in Kentucky since it was announced that Dr. Holliday was in the running for the Kentucky position. If you do not believe me, I will gladly show you my home phone, and cell phone, records. Speaking of cell phone records, you mention that I spent hours pouring over I-SS cell phone bills this week. It is true that when I went to the Central Office on Wednesday, I did look at some of Dr. Holliday’s I-SS cell phone records. It is interesting that you would know that, since I did not mention it in this blog. The only way you would know that is if you work in the Central Office or know someone who does and that person told you. You also seem to know that Dr. Holliday uses his school cell phone to call his kids at lunch. In addition it also seems that the only way you would know that someone called Kentucky trying to ‘discredit’ Dr. Holliday would be if the Kentucky Board of Education asked Dr. Holliday about the phone call and then Dr. Holliday told you. Therefore I have to assume that you are a close companion of Dr. Holliday.
ReplyDeleteAs Janey Munday said in her comments, I am not doing any of this out of hate. I am doing this out of compassion. I care very much for the students in the Iredell-Statesville Schools. I want them to have the best education possible in the best environment possible. I care very much for the teachers, teacher assistants, administrators, and other I-SS employees. All I-SS students and employees have to be given the opportunities and support needed to achieve true success. This can only be done in an atmosphere of encouragement, transparency and accountability.
The hypocrisy on here is astounding. You say that the schools run by dictators and want allow anyone to question. When you are questioned here, all you want to do is attack anyone who disagrees with you. How funny.
ReplyDeleteMr. Klaene has attacked no one...he is merely making observations based on information found in this blog.
ReplyDeleteThe last time I checked, US citizens still had the right of free speech. As has been mentioned by many posters, Mr. Klaene, Ms. Munday and all others who are giving the citizens of Iredell County the gift of their time and efforts to bring true transparency in regard to the financial dealings of ISS under Holliday, are to be commended. Everyone should remember that this is OUR tax money--- whether it comes from the county, state or federal public coffers. We have a right to know how it is being spent...
ISS belongs to the people, the BoE would do well to remember this...they are elected to serve the citizens of Iredell County... ALL of them-- not just the ivory tower dwellers.
I don't believe that Mr. Klaene was attacking anyone. He was just responding to the blogger and explaining the situtation. I love reading all the comments good, bad, or indifferent. I just wish that all of the blog readers and commentors who come to the next meeting and share with us in person. As to Mr. Klaene being the only one at the board meeting wearing red, white, and blue, I was there but didn't have time to change before I came.
ReplyDeleteI wasn't referring to Mr. Klaene. On the contrary, his posts are quite professional. I may not agree with everything he says, or he I, but professional discourse is a good thing. Can't say that about a few of the others on here. As has been said many times, can't please everyone.
ReplyDeleteJust to touch on a part of Mr. Klaene's post above. Not sure what the imprortance is of Dr. Holliday using a school issued phone to call his kids at lunch. That would not add any additional costs to the district, so why even bring it up? How many people in the world today do you think use a work issued phone to call family?
ReplyDeleteMr. Klaene was a fine teacher and I learned alot from him. Whoever said they celebrated when he left MCC is crazy. I'd like to see that data. You are just a vicious person who cares nothing but for yourself. Mr. Klaene wants nothing but the truth and you must be very afraid of it. You definitely do not care how much money is wasted or has been wasted. You definitely think you know everything. You have no idea how detested Baldridge is in this system because you must live in another county, not Iredell. Other counties know this and if Baldridge is so great why have our scores not gone through the sky? The percentage points are not that great. You are nothing but a bully. Or perhaps, you are fearful of losing a job that requires very little work. Whatever, you need to grow up and get a real life. Go sell Amway or Baldridge programs since you think that is the way for 21st century learning.
ReplyDeletePerhaps the central office needs to do some writing PDSAs. How about these I can statements:
ReplyDeleteI can start a sentence with a capital letter.
I can use question marks.
I can identify a run-on sentence.
Don't worry. We'll let a person with vested interest in the data results create the test! That person will want to look good, so it will be an easy test, and we will call you and the whole Baldridge program a success! ;-)
Still waiting on the reason for bringing up the cell phone calls to family....
ReplyDeleteOkay, lets defend the man at all cost. But what about the new discovery of paying a Winston-Salem firm to help him with his Malcolm Baldrige award goal? Heh?
ReplyDeleteThe topic is 'Baldrige Expenditures' Maybe it should be, "Why a superintendent making 200K + per year can't pay for his own cell phone.'
ReplyDeleteHe makes five times the salary of an average teacher and if they own a mobile, they pay for it.
Hey, it was Anonymous 7/17, 8:57PM who brought up the issue of someone calling their kids at lunch (the vitriolic one who said this blog is filled with ignorance and hatred), not Mr. Klaene. Interesting that he/she would want to bring this issue to the public's attention, considering that teachers are so very limited in their ability to make or to receive personal phone calls, whether before, during or after the school day with students or in required (usually Baldrige related, meetings), and especially during their lunch time spent with students.
ReplyDeleteTeachers have duty free lunch and they can use the phone all they please...
ReplyDelete"Teachers have duty free lunch and they can use the phone all they please..."
ReplyDeleteSo uninformed. No way you are a teacher, or else you'd be more aware of reality----- you should sign your posts... 'Clueless'
Yes I am a teacher and yes I use the phone when I need to during lunch. Sorry that you have such a hard time with that.
ReplyDeleteHow wonderful for you. Your day is much different from that of the teachers with whom I am in contact. Duty free lunch has been a joke at a great many schools; there is often no one available to 'cover' the lunchroom, so teachers are responsible for their students during that time as well. You are very lucky that you have that luxurious twenty-five minutes to relax and make your phone calls.
ReplyDeleteBeing a teacher comes with a certain set of unique job responsibilites b/c they are in direct supervision of students. I'm sure that the custodian, cafe. workers, office staff, etc. can also use the phone as needed to make a call home as they please.
ReplyDeleteThe topic is NOT 'Phone Use by Teachers', it is 'Baldrige Expenditures' --. Under that category, you can include less time for planning instruction, and instruction itself, because that is the result of all the time wasted preparing the 'wall-paper' and the endless mountain of forms and other useless paperwork mandated by all the 'Baldrige Chiefs' who are themselves Baldrige expenditures.
ReplyDeleteAs uncomfortable as it may be for some, let's try to stay on topic.
Is your request to stay on topic aimed at the creater/moderator of this blog who brought up Dr. Holliday's cell phone records, which other posters defended as reasonable since teachers can't use the phone?
ReplyDeletePlease read more carefully, the creator/moderator of this blog did not make any mention of Holliday's cell phone records. Geez! Read.
ReplyDeleteSo, to answer your question, the request is aimed at the attempt to divert attention from the real topic/problem .... irresponsible use of tax payer money.
I read more carefully as you suggested and I still see this under Paul Klaene:
ReplyDelete"I did look at some of Dr. Holliday’s I-SS cell phone records. It is interesting that you would know that, since I did not mention it in this blog. The only way you would know that is if you work in the Central Office or know someone who does and that person told you. You also seem to know that Dr. Holliday uses his school cell phone to call his kids at lunch."
At which point I asked the relevence bringing up his calls to his kids....
Your words:
ReplyDelete"Is it your request aimed at the creater/moderator of this blog who BROUGHT UP".....
He did not bring it up, so yes, you do need to read more carefully, you should also look up 'creater' in the dictionary...you won't find it though.
ok so who brought up Dr. Holliday calling his kids during lunch? (which is what I was questioning, which brought up the whole discussion on teachers using the phone).
ReplyDeleteHere is where cell phone usage was originally BROUGHT UP: Thinking you could have scrolled up for yourself.....
ReplyDeleteWow, this blog is full of ignorance. No wonder your hearts are so full of hate! Klaene, you claim you are for what is best for ISS....I think it is a personal vendetta....why would you call Kentucky and try to discredit Dr. Holliday, you would think you would call with praise to get rid of him. You supposedly spent hours POURING OVER CELL PHONE BILLS this week of the district, why bother? it is a flat rate per phone. If someone calls their kids at lunch and it costs the district nothing additional - what is the problem. I think you are just living on the drama. I will pray for you and all of the others who are so filled with hate - it is scary that these are the people that claim they are for our children...so full of hate! This coming from a man who most of the MCC staff said "YEAH" when you were forced to retire from MCC...hmmmm
July 17, 2009 8:57 PM
Pretty ugly post, but there it is. Done now with this diversion.
Sorry, didn't see that section from the original post...thought it only discussed Paul looking at the cell phone records in general.
ReplyDelete"I-SS is in the process of firing 65 teacher assistants. I think that these expenditures show that most, if not all, of these positions could have been saved if the school system was not spending an extraordinary amount of money to force students to endure the consequences of continuing the I-SS implementation of the Baldrige plan. As I mentioned before, there are thousands of school systems in this country achieving significant successes without using the Baldrige method."
ReplyDeleteThis is what is pertinent to the best interests of I-SS students, and should be what we are concerned about.
Agreed - A point to take into account from that post is that the district has a pot of money that is earmarked for professional development only and can not be used for staff hiring/retention. I would assume that most of the funds used to implement "baldridge" comes from this pot, but I have no evidence to prove that.
ReplyDeleteWhat about the huge amount of money that has been and is being spent on STAFF salaries to support Baldrige? This ridiculously large number of dollars does not come from the PD pot, I am quite sure.
ReplyDeleteThis money could have (and imo, should have) been used for TA's and to keep class size lower.
Again I am only speculating on this, but you can use money from the PD pot to hire people that will plan and/or deliever professional development for the schools, so it is possible that some of their salaries are from this pot.
ReplyDeleteI'm sure that Brenda Clark's salary does not come from the PD pot. Are you attempting to justify the exorbitant amounts of money spent on Baldrige? The point here is that it was all a very expensive, very big mistake.
ReplyDeleteNo not at all, just trying to state that I don't think the loss of TA's and the money spent on Baldridge has a direct relationship. Every system in the state is dealing with TA loss. TA's are very valuable to our system, but it didn't suprise me that they were cut from the budget. Most states stop TA allotment at grades K or 1. I'm not sure I have heard of any state other than NC that has a grade 3 TA allotment. I have always been pleased that NC did this, but I also have expected it to be scaled back for years.
ReplyDeleteYou continue to ignore the fact that there are many CO staff who were hired specifically to implement Baldrige....staff is staff. The money spent on them could be spent for TA's or for additional teachers to lower class size, either would be a positive for I-SS students. Heck, the money could be spent on reading tutors...that is our huge gap area...students would benefit directly and immediately.
ReplyDeleteThank you for taking the time to do this informative blog.
ReplyDeleteHow about the BOE take an "exit" pole now regarding the exit of Terry Holliday. It would be interesting, now that employees are really almost free to express their thoughts, to see the results of this pole. Let's also see if we can pole the employees regarding how they feel about getting back to the business of teaching our children rather than doing the Baldridge dance. You know it has to be some more of a program when Holliday had to change the name of it each year. I'm glad to see that my tax dollars may now be going to my children as opposed to funding Jim Shipley and the Hollidays. Happy Balding Kentucky. And by the way, don't give the credit for any growth to Holliday...it's the hard work of students, parents, and staff.
ReplyDeleteWow! As a retired ISS teacher, I just have to say Best of Luck to Kentucky! The amount of money and time spent on Holliday's Baldrige BS is absolutely appalling! The additional stress he created for administrators and teachers was inexcuseable. Here's to Iredell Statesville continuing to progress without Baldrige brainwashing.....
ReplyDeleteProfessional development is supposed to be cut at the state level because of the budget, so where will the money come from this year for staff development? Canceled, I hope.
ReplyDeleteI can go to MCC for my credits and pay, and I really don't mind. Of course, right now I am overloaded in credits and those extra credits will be lost again when I renew.
Duty-free lunches have been never. In elementary school this is the way it is. PLCs are not colloboration for grade levels, only Baldridge agendas by empowered Instructional Facilitators who cannot think theirselves ,because they have been too brainwashed by the Holliday agendas. It is where data takes precedence over learning.
ReplyDeleteWhat do you mean duty free lunches have been never?
ReplyDeleteMeaning for most elementary teachers,they do not exist. There are not enough personnel to cover during lunch, so elementary teachers must supervise their students during lunch, too.
ReplyDeleteWhere I am and have been in the ISS elementary schools in 32 years , I have never had
ReplyDeleteduty -free lunches. And never means never.
According to House Bill 1151 (signed into law by Gov. Easley on July 23, 2007) beginning with the 2007-2008 school year, elementary teachers are supposed at least five hours of planning per week and duty-free lunch. It appears that the law is being ignored much of the time.
ReplyDeleteThe law (1151) was written in response to numerous Teacher Working Condition Surverys...
From Easley ---"In all of my Teacher Working Condition Surveys, nearly all teachers responded that they can do their jobs better and increase student achievement if they have adequate time for classroom preparation."
*correction--the bill was signed into law on July 23, 2006
ReplyDeleteMy school has duty free lunch. The law also states that your SIT team and waive the duty-free lunch. Talk to your SIT team
ReplyDeleteThat is excellent for you. At the schools with which I am familiar, as mentioned above, there was never enough available personnel for lunchroom duty. As a matter of fact, there were no breaks at all all day with the exception of specials and once a week that planning time was taken by the IF as mandated by Baldrige. Those who haven't taught at the elementary level, (in the grades without assistants) should spend the day with a teacher in grades (now) 3-5 and see what it's like to not even have bathroom breaks. Every grade level has its challenges, I know...I'm just very familiar with the upper elementary teacher experience.
ReplyDeleteWhen I say never, I mean never. If you have a classroom in elementary school, you do not leave the students. Usually the assistant is running off papers during this time for the upper grades, then she has to have lunch. Our assistants also had meetings ,usually, always at K-2 lunchtimes to be sure they knew all about Baldridge. Many were mandated meetings before the Baldridge judges came. So who was left to cover dutyfree lunches when most meetings lasted over an hour or even more?
ReplyDeleteI wonder, with less assistants this year, when do you think anyone with a classroom is going to have a dutyfree lunch? I'm glad some teachers get dutyfree lunch. I would prefer to get to know my students, and lunchtime is a great time. Most of the day, we are much too busy trying to get everything done and teaching in , too. Perhaps, the IFS and assistant principals can give all the teachers a dutyfree lunch time.
The most important thing is not a dutyfree lunch, but to be sure our students are looked after and taken care of at all times during the school day.
Hey, where's that 9 billion dollar surplus at?
ReplyDeleteI remember reading that. They can pay someone to come in and cover dutyfree lunches.
Sorry but if your school wanted to do it they could...I teach in an elementary school and I have duty free lunch. Also, I teach a grade without a TA and I understand not having breaks in the day..but that is what we signed up for, isn't it?
ReplyDeleteNo, it should not be. A member of my family was an elementary school teacher and principal in Virginia for over 30 years, and when I told her how it is for many elementary teachers here, she could not believe it. During her time as principal, she made sure that assistants rotated to give all classroom teachers a 10 minute restroom break.
ReplyDeleteYes, teachers sign up to teach, but they do not cease to have human bodies when they do.
And how in the world do you know that all school situations are, or could be like yours? I'm sure you've heard what happens when one assumes.....
Listen, sorry if your school can't figure out the supervision of the cafe. My statement was in response to this:
ReplyDelete"Duty-free lunches have been never. In elementary school this is the way it is"
Sorry to burst your bubble 8/2 5:47pm. I came from outside the education industry. I was appalled to see the blatent violations of the law. To the fudging of time cards to avoid overtime to never having a lawful break. We were told that if we were going to go over, (meaning over 40 hours) we had to clock out and do what? Most of us had schedules that prohibited us from clocking out at convenient times i.e. at the end of the day, had to drive a bus, or prior to work. We had deadlines and classrooms to cover. That meant clocking out for weird times, like 20 to 40 minutes during the day. Most of us clocked out and kept working. I was so appalled I informed many about the blatent disregard for the law and their rights. To the opponents, I did question all of this and I was told they had to do that because of a law suit a TA brought against the system for not being paid overtime. Come on! This is the way they circumvent the law! When we start valuing our most precious asset, our children, then maybe we will make strides in the area of education. We treat our animals better and probably have better and more enforced laws for them. I know that least the mistreatment of animals (like Michael Vick) get more media attention than our educators and children get.
ReplyDeleteAs long as some get their breaks, they must assume everyone does. What happens in one school does not necessarily happen in another school.
ReplyDeleteBut as always, others do not care about other people's situations as long as they get what they need and the rest do not. Glad some get dutyfree lunches whaile others do not.
misspelled while
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