It is certainly good news that the teacher assistants are being rehired. However, it is unfortunate that they had to wait so long to find out that they would have jobs this year. Other school systems were much quicker at announcing the rehire of their TA's once the State budget was finalized.
Monday, August 17, 2009
TAs Rehired
It is being reported on the I-SS web site that 59 teacher assistants are being called back to work. The report states that there were 65 TAs laid off but that 6 of them no longer met the employment criteria set forth by the Board of Education. It was also stated that the teacher assistants who are re-hired will likely be re-hired in different positions than the ones they left. Click on the link below to read the full report.
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Fantastic News!
ReplyDeleteQuote "Every proposed budget we saw left a large gap in teacher assistant funding," said Dale Ellis, former assistant superintendent for human resources. "We moved forward with the best information at the time." From the ISS website regarding rehire of TA's. This was posted 8/17. The budget actually reinstated funding on Aug. 4th. The admin changes and raises were proposed at the Aug. 10th meeting. YOU DO THE MATH!!!!!
ReplyDelete9:12, it's not the same money.
ReplyDeletePeople have to stop thinking that alllllllll of the money is in the same pot. You have different funding for different things. Has to be spent on certain things.
Wherever the money comes from, it is STILL being wasted! The disparity between those at the top and the those in the classroom is too great. The huge percentage of the I-SS budget that goes to administration is shameful...that money CAN be reallocated to better reach students, after all they are what education should be about---
ReplyDeleteThe current situation in I-SS is reminiscent of the corporate greed of the business world. Is this ever-increasing disparity a coincidence, or perhaps the result of applying a business model to where it has no logical place...to education?
Of course, support and leadership are needed, but the balance is way off. It doesn't matter from which pot from which the money comes...the percentage going to administration is way too big. Teachers are constantly required to do more with less...let's see some 'walking the talking' at the CO.
correction
ReplyDelete*from which pot the money comes
Those at the top do not care about the ones at the bottom, except I know there are always exceptions. I hope that Perdue is going to start looking at where all the wasted tax money goes, and it is definitely not to the students. It is the taxpayers money, and they are looking now at the universities and the great big salaries those at the top are making in NC. Since the budget has been in such a mess ,Perdue is probably going to start looking at what is essential for Central offices in NC and not.
ReplyDeletePerdue doesn't give a flip about what the central offices are doing. The state allocates whatever money they are going to allocate and then they are through. Each district governs itself as long as it uses the funds given for the purpose for which they were given. If you don't believe me call Raliegh. I have contacted them before about other things and their response is that almost everything is up to the individual districts. Our school system has a license to pretty much do what it wants to do. Don't ever believe anything different.
ReplyDeleteJust quit complaining. You wanted the Hollidays gone, and now they're gone. You wanted new administrators, and now you've got them. I'm starting to think that the point of all the complaining is just the complaining itself. You folks should try living that Christianity that you preach at church every Sunday, and start embracing everyone instead of rejecting them with your constant complaints. What does it matter that the new administrators all got raises? They're all working harder, and they deserve them!
ReplyDeleteI'm not sure they all deserve the raises they got; one thing is for sure though, the R&L will publish those salaries pretty soon and we can see for ourselves. I do think they should get more money than teachers, because they work harder.
ReplyDeleteno but in a system of heirarchy...their salaries can be negotiated because their funds don't all come from the state. Teachers pay is set by the legislators of NC. So if your pissed about pay...um, well, complain to your legislators.
ReplyDeleteAlso, CO should get paid more than teachers. I know if I was CO and I had to deal with this blog, complaints from teachers, and do ALL the duties of my job I would need the extra money to go to a therapist to keep myself sane.
Everyone really needs to understand how salaries work. CO is the top. TA's, custodians, etc. are on the bottom side of the scales. Most classified and certified staff are paid what the legislators decide. CO is paid from a lot of different areas. I don't mind checking up on people if they aren't doing their jobs. However, don't get mad at people just because they make better pay. Over 100k is nothing is today's society. Teacher's get paid crap, I am one of them but my problem is with the legislators not the CO.
For teachers to think they just work HARDER, and attend more MEETINGS, and work longer HOURS they need to get a grip.
Most of the CO have to go to the School Board meetings, work all day, are on call over night. Have to go to meetings to aid with curriculum and staff development. Deal with parents, Deal with community members, Deal with school board, deal with admin, teachers, and classified staff. I think they earn what they deserve.
Most have a Doctorate and well you don't work somewhere making much less than 100k with a doctorate. If you are well you should find another profession.
If you are a teacher maybe you should go get your master's, if you alreayd have one of those get your doctorate. All of these CO's were teachers, had kids, went to school, and struggled to get where they are today. They did not expect a handout and I believe they deserve the pay they receive.
Sometimes teachers can be the biggest babies, spread rumors worse than the kids, and they never offer any solutions. I'm a teacher and I hear this stuff all the time at the lunch table, or with the department during meetings.
Focus on the students, do your job, find ways to better yourself and if you want to make the pay the CO makes, go get a higher degree and get out of the classroom. Until then you are at the whims of the legislature.
13... It would seem that you are right when you said, "I'm starting to think that the point of all the complaining is just the complaining itself."
ReplyDelete7:46 made the comment, "Sometimes teachers can be the biggest babies, spread rumors worse than the kids, and they never offer any solutions."
All I have seen on here is complaining and identifying problems. And to make things worse, they are mostly anonymous. I understand the need to protect your job, but if a reasonable solution is offered along with a complaint; that is basic problem solving which is what is expected of our children if they want to pass to the next grade. I really don’t see anyone getting fired over making suggestions on improvement.
I agree that teachers don't get paid enough to deal with the issues in the classroom. Pay needs to be addressed as well. Until then, if all the people who are finding fault could work together to find resolve, then everybody’s life would be easier and that lower pay wouldn’t be as bad. There is a lot of energy being put into DIGGING for problems when there are major issues in the open that need the combined attention of everyone. The purpose of this blog doesn't seem to be concern for our children's education, it seems to be a place to promote discord and point fingers at people, not problems.
And to those few ignorant people who will inevitably post an anonymous response telling me to go leave the blog, I keep checking back thinking I may see some progress in a good direction. I have seen some good conversations back and forth that discuss the workings of the classroom, but they inevitably disintegrate into petty griping. If it’s worth saying, it’s worth putting your name to it. Holliday is gone and so is the heavy handed control that he maintained. If you know you are right stand up and say so. If it isn’t worth putting your name to it, it probably isn’t worth saying.
In regard to your statement that "Holliday is gone and so is the heavy handed control that he maintained" -you are wrong. We have new faces but the same old show. People are being transferred, demoted, and forced out at an alarming rate. Mr. Johnson is "cleaning house" on the basis of hearsay and innuendo with the help of his hatchet men and women - Dale Ellis, Melanie Taylor and Ron Hargrave, but they are getting rid of the wrong people. I work in the district - not CO but I hear what is going on. Some of the best and most talented people are being transferred for simply speaking the truth. People are running scared as Brady Johnson, 3 school board members, and Paul Klaene try to run the district with fear and intimidation. The rest of the school board just sits back and lets it happen. They don't really care. Those 3 top administrators - Hargrave, Ellis, and Taylor are in a wrestling match to see who wins the eventual superintendency, and it ain't pretty. Each of them tries to outdo the others in a race to the bottom. All decisions are made spontaneously with no processes or systems in place, and the county itself is going backwards at an alarming rate. People are being hurt, and my great fear is that it will have a ripple effect and eventually affect the students. Chaos is NOT an improvement. Mr. Johnson promised us a "kinder" version of management! Ha! That was a lie!
ReplyDelete7:40... If what you say is true then it needs to be addressed now. Whatever is wrong or perceived as wrong needs to all come out in the open. There is currently too much "us against them" for our children to benefit from the change we need to be going through.
ReplyDeleteI can't see Brady acting in the way that you have described, but if you say it is so, bring on the documentation. As for Paul Klaene using fear and intimidation, I definately can't see that. One of my dissapopintments with Paul was that he isn't aggressive enough on pushing real issues. I'll have to defend him on that unless you can show me different.
You said 3 BOE members are also part of the fear intimidation team. Which ones and what specifically have they done? If any of the people you mentioned are doing what you say there needs to be people with faces and names providing documentation. Otherwise it is just heresay and more negative rumors.
I greatly appreciate your statement "...my great fear is that it will have a ripple effect and eventually affect the students. Chaos is NOT an improvement."
If there is fear, intimidation and chaos show us where so we can fix it.
This is sad. Here we are, first day over, and no one is excited about new possibilities? I can't wait to meet my new students and their families. The budget is tight, but we have been through this before. I believe this is going to be a great year with new leadership!
ReplyDeleteHope everybody survived open house tonight. We just got back ourselves and are glad to be out of there. Very crowded at both NIMS & NIMS!
ReplyDeletethe R & L reports on the previous year's salary, so you will see no changes from the new fiscal year starting July 1.
ReplyDeleteAmen 7:40 most principals are not sure what to do or say for fear that they will make one of the big three mad. You have the lake group of CO and the principal secret association, that is who is running the district: whomever can get Mr. Johnson first gets their change
ReplyDeleteI've heard of the secret principal's organization. My sources say they are circulating a petition to get back the 2% of their salaries they gave up for the "cause" when Dr. Holliday was here. Now that he is gone, they want their money back. I've also heard that this group is very powerful and has the ear of 3 board members and Mr. Johnson.
ReplyDeleteI am so glad that the assistants got their jobs back. They are a very important part of the education of the children of Iredell County. Keep up the great work.
ReplyDeleteOk, so fear and intimidation...didn't we say that about the Hollidays?? Then the secret principal association...woah!!! So cool, I wonder if they have a secret handshake!! Oh and a wrestling match? I hear WWE has offered contracts!!! Can't wait for pay-per-view to start advertising I will make sure I get my ticket!
ReplyDeleteWow, really people? Why is everyone so paranoid? You're like 10 second Tom on the 30 First Dates movie. It's like you can hold a conversation for 10 seconds and then repeat with completely new characters, and circumstances.
How about this. We do what the state sets us up with by providing an elected school board to REPRESENT THE PEOPLE, then they hire a superintendant to supervise and manage the schools and the upper administration, We then let administration select prncipals and we let principals govern our schools.
What is wrong with that picture? Oh yeh, I forgot we have to complain to keep this blog moving. We have to feel like we have some sort of power so we put up messages to fuel the rumor mill...great! Good Job everyone!!
To 7:16AM I AM a teacher in ISS. I work as hard as any administrator at the CO, and so do my colleagues at my school. You are out of touch with what teachers have to do these days in this system. No one seems to be worried that teachers did not get a raise. CO administrators received anywhere from 5%-38%. In this day and time, that's just WRONG!
ReplyDeleteDo they care? I doubt it, unless one's wife or husband is a classroom teacher. Let me see, our teachers have been at school getting rooms ready before they even had to go. The workdays before open house are used for meetings. Do you think a classroom teacher could get his or her room ready for open house in one day? Most had to wait on the great custodians to get the floors done, or they would have been there sooner. I doubt if the higher ups go anywhere and work for free, so don't tell me how much more they work than a classroom teacher. I doubt,also, if they reach into their pockets and buy student supplies. CEOs do much less work when they can dictate to others what to do. The majority of administrators leave on time much more than any of our classroom teachers. They meet during the day and do all their planning without a classroom of students ,and they do not have papers to grade or parents to call after school or conferences or staff develoment or
ReplyDeletePTOs after school hours. I haven't seen the people at the Central Office at any of these meetings unless they have a child at that school.
I know that our wonderful teachers choose to do this. That is just the way it is.
The "secret" principal assoc. is not secret when they speak of it in front of the superintendant and others at open Central Office meetings. They are enjoying throwing their weight around. Mr. Johnson wants the principals happy so of course they are trying to get their 2% back--Taylor, Ellis, Hargrave, Long, and Johnson got their 2% back through raises. I guess it is not time for assistant principals, and other central office staff to band together and petition to have their 2% reinstated
ReplyDeleteDo the principals have to make the teachers happy? oh that's right the state controls their salary so it is ok that they are not getting more money.
The state does NOT control the local teacher supplement...
ReplyDeleteThese people (the CO folks grabbing raises) are GREEDY, pure and simple.
I don't understand how they can sleep at night, let alone show their faces in public.
They can probably sleep very well after dealing with all the crap from the public and many of the school employees.
ReplyDeleteAugust 23, 2009 9:10 AM
ReplyDeleteSounds like some are free of the constraints of having a conscience.
It's called doing your job and being at peace with yourself. Try it sometime. If you spent the time working that you spend on here whining you could sleep too knowing that you did your part.
ReplyDelete"Cowardice asks the question, 'Is it safe?' Expediency asks the question, 'Is it politic?' Vanity asks the question, 'Is it popular?' But, conscience asks the question, 'Is it right?' And there comes a time when one must take a position that is neither safe, nor politic, nor popular but one must take it because one's conscience tells one that it is right."
ReplyDelete.........................Martin Luther King, Jr.
August 23, 2009 11:22AM: So how are you spending your time?
ReplyDeleteAugust 23, 2009 11:22AM: Just wondering why you're here on this blog. Seriously, you are at peace with yourself? Then why are you here? Whine, whine whine yourself!! Just do your part and quit that whining!! (Try it sometime yourself).
ReplyDelete