A Teacher's Job Description

As I mentioned in a previous post, Mr. Johnson is suggesting that a number of Central Office administrators should be given salary adjustments (raises) because they are being assigned additional duties as he reorganizes the Central Office staff. I already mentioned that many individuals have stated that teachers are often assigned extra duties without receiving additional compensation. However, those remarks also made me think that it would be beneficial to list the duties, or responsibilities, of an typical classroom teacher.

To that end, I used Google to search for teacher job descriptions. I found several comprehensive lists of teacher duties. I then merged those lists and, with my wife’s assistance, added a few duties that were not already included. As you might suspect the list is quite lengthy but that is just a small testament to the dedication of the teachers. I am including the list below. There is some overlapping between the bulleted items but that is balanced out by the fact that there are numerous other items that could be broken down into multiple duties.

Professional Responsibilities of Teachers:

• Prepare classroom and materials for Open House.
• Assemble class rosters and get to know students and parents.
• Administer Common Formative Assessments.
• Prepare lesson plans that reflect a logical sequence of learning objectives and activities and meet the individual needs, interests, and abilities of the students.
• Implement instructional activities that contribute to a climate where students are actively engaged in meaningful learning experiences.
• Use a variety of instructional strategies and materials that are appropriate for the stated instructional objectives of the students involved.
• Collaborate with students to prepare PDSAs.
• Identify, select, and modify instructional resources to meet the needs of the students with varying backgrounds, learning styles, and special needs.
• Use relevant technology to support instruction.
• Instruct and monitor students in the use of learning materials and equipment.
• Establish standards of classroom conduct and administer them in a fair, equitable, and consistent manner.
• Teach a broad base of understanding without indoctrinating students with his/her own cultural, political, religious or philosophical beliefs.
• Ensure that student growth and achievement is continuous and appropriate for age group, subject area, and/or program classification.
• Read and critique student papers.
• Assist students as they complete class projects.
• Provide appropriate feedback on student work.
• Appropriately display student work in the classroom and hallways.
• Post current PDSA information in the classroom.
• Monitor and assess student progress and adjust student instruction accordingly.
• Maintain effective and efficient record keeping procedures.
• Observe and evaluate student's performance and development.
• Assign and grade class work, homework, tests and assignments.
• Encourage and monitor the progress of individual students.
• Keep accurate records and provide them for school district use and file required reports on a timely basis.
• Demonstrate gains in student performance.
• Prepare and submit progress reports and report cards.
• Apply appropriate disciplinary measures where necessary.
• Monitor after school detention room as assigned.
• Assist in assessing changing curricular needs and offer plans for improvement.
• Collaborate with peers to enhance the instructional environment.
• Assume responsibility for meeting his/her course and school-wide student performance goals.
• Participate in training and presentations about various teaching techniques.
• Meet professional obligations through efficient work habits such as: meeting deadlines, honoring schedules, coordinating.
• Attend and participate in required district in-service programs.
• Stay current through professional staff development opportunities.
• Utilize established channels for handling routine procedures, resolving problems/concerns and making suggestions.
• Participate in required staff meetings and conferences.
• Keep up to date with developments in subject area, teaching resources and methods and make relevant changes to instructional plans and activities.
• Participate in committees as related to student needs, school programs, and district needs.
• Works collaboratively to achieve the overall purposes of the school program.
• Participate in the development and implementation of the school improvement plan.
• Provide a positive environment in which students are encouraged to be actively engaged in the learning process.
• Prepare and display motivational items on classroom bulletin boards.
• Promote and maintain a safe and healthful environment in the classroom and building.
• Maintain an organized and clean classroom.
• Communicate effectively, both orally and in writing, with students, parents, and other professionals on a regular basis.
• Communicate student academic and behavioral progress to parents.
• Develop and maintain positive and cooperative interactions and communication with school staff, clients, and the community.
• Establish and maintain cooperative working relationships with students, parents, and schools.
• Performs bus and car duty before and after school as assigned.
• Participate in extracurricular activities such as social activities, sporting activities, clubs and student organizations.
• Provide supervision in non-classroom areas and situations in accordance with the building student management plan.
• Monitor students in hallways, cafeteria, gymnasium, and school grounds.
• Assign lockers and maintain records of those assignments.
• Provide direction and supervision for all school activities to which he/she is assigned (coach, director, supervisor, chaperon, etc.).
• Develop a budget for applicable programs and insure that needed materials are ordered with the administrator’s approval.
• Care for district resources, equipment and materials assigned to him/her and report concerns regarding facility and equipment to designated supervisor.
• When applicable, provide direction and/or supervision for teacher assistants, student teachers, interns, and substitutes.
• Maintain a current folder of responsibilities and procedures for substitute teacher's use.
• Model professional and ethical standards when dealing with students, parents, peers, and community.
• Participate in IEP meetings.
• Be knowledgeable of and adhere to all procedures and practices prescribed in the Teacher, Student, and/or Parent Handbooks.
• Keep an accurate and detailed accounts of all monies collected and submit detailed accounting of such money to the appropriate building or business office personnel.
• Be knowledgeable of and adhere to federal and state laws that apply to his/her job assignment.
• Perform all other duties and responsibilities as assigned by their supervisor or district administrator.

To conclude, I thank all teachers and teacher assistants for dedicating your lives to helping students achieve success in the classroom and in the world outside the classroom. As the above list indicates, a significant effort is required to assist students achieve their goals. To all teachers and assistants, have a great summer. Spend some extra quality time with your families and friends, and recharge your batteries because it will not be too long till the beginning of a new school year.

Resources:

Sevenstar Academy, Omaha Public Schools, Waunakee Community School District, and Best-Job-Interview.com.

New I-SS Organizational Chart

A new version of the I-SS Organizational Chart is now available on the I-SS web site. It is shown to have a December '09 revision date. Click on the image of the chart located on the left side of the blog to access the full-sized chart.

The only change that I noticed from the chart posted in September is that Mr. Johnson is listed as Superintendent instead of Interim Superintendent. As noted before, all of the other so-called interim positions were never listed as such. I guess it is now official that none of the interim administrators who were to go back to their previous positions and previous pay will do so. I understand the need for some of the changes in position as Mr. Johnson took over as Interim Superintendent and now as Superintendent but there was no justification to increase the salaries of these individuals when the budget was severely limited. As many have previously mentioned, teachers and other I-SS employees have been asked to take on extra responsibilities without a corresponding increase in pay. Shouldn't that philosophy apply to administrators as well?

Baldrige Award Received

According to the I-SS web site, a delegation of just over 50 administrators, teachers, Board of Education members, and students recently traveled to Washington, DC to attend the Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award ceremony. U.S. Commerce Secretary Gary Locke presented the award and Vice President Joe Biden congratulated the recipients. Apparently President Obama was not present.

Click on the link below to access the article on the I-SS web site.

I-SS Accepts Baldrige Award

Update:

Click on the link below to download the video of the Baldrige Award Ceremony. (There is a lot of rhetoric but there are also some excellent selections played by the Air Force Band.)

Baldrige Ceremony Video

I-SS Administrators Get Raises - Teachers Get More Headaches

The following is Janey Munday's letter to the editor that was published in today's Record and Landmark under the heading above. She also sent the letter to each of the members of the School Board.

As a concerned taxpayer of Iredell County, I am writing to you with concern about the raises that certain administrative personnel received. During this difficult economic time when everyone is being asked to do more for less, I feel that it is a slap in the face of our dedicated teachers when raises are given at the central office. Teachers in grades 4-12 are being told that their class size will increase and that TA's will not be available to help. Not only will these teachers have more students to teach, but will have an increase in paperwork, phone calls to parents, and discipline issues to deal with. Unfortunately, they are not being given a raise of any sort to compensate for the extra work that will now be put on them.

Central office staff who are asked to do more should be held to the same standards as the teachers. If they don't feel that they can do their job without more money, then I am sure that there are plenty of people in the unemployment line who would be more than happy to give their jobs a try. With or without these people, school will go on and learning will take place. The same cannot be said about teachers.

Sincerely,

Janey Munday

Administrative Raises

In previous posts I told of the announced shift in personnel at the I-SS Central Office. The shifts were triggered as Mr. Johnson assumed the role of Interim Superintendent. Mr. Johnson had informed me that administrators moving into new positions would receive raises corresponding to their new responsibilities. Mr. Johnson has now provided the amounts of those raises. The change in position and salary for each administrator is given below.

Brady Johnson was Deputy Superintendent of Operations and is now Interim Superintendent. His previous salary was $129,900.00 and is now $175,100.00, which is a 34.8% raise.

Ron Hargrave was Assistant Superintendent of Secondary Education/Student Services and is now Interim Associate Superintendent of Operations. His previous salary was $118,000.00 and is now $125,000.00, which is a 5.9% raise.

Dale Ellis was Associate Superintendent of Human Resources and is now Interim Assistant Superintendent of Secondary Education/Student Services. His previous salary was $110,970.00 and is now $117,000.00, which is a 5.4% raise.

Dr. Melanie Taylor was Chief Academic Officer and is now Interim Associate Superintendent of Curriculum and Instruction. Her previous salary was $120,000.00 and is now $125,000.00, which is a 4.2% raise.

Bill Long was Director of Recruitment & Retention and is now Interim Associate Superintendent of Human Resources. His previous salary was $81,900.00 and is now $92,000.00, which is a 12.3% raise.

Mr. Johnson stated that all of these salaries are subject to the 2% reduction/furlough and that each of these individuals will revert back to his or her previous position/salary after the new superintendent is hired.

In my opinion, under normal economic conditions these raises would not be out of line. But, with the drastic cuts in the overall school budget, these raises do seem to be unwarranted. It was recently reported in the Statesville Record & Landmark that there would be a 5.8% reduction in More at Four Funding; the elimination of funding for literacy coaches, staff development, and improving student accountability; a 13.1% cut in funding for teacher mentoring; and an estimated $420,000 cut in transportation spending. Many students who previously were able to ride a school bus are now required to walk to school. Yet these administrators were given raises. As I mentioned before, the justification given is that these individuals will be taking on new responsibilities.

The Record & Landmark also reported that the cap on class size for 4^th through 12^th grades will increase to 31 students. Each of the teachers in these grades will have to take on new responsibilities for each additional student. Are these teachers going to be given raises because they have to take on these new responsibilities? No! Are other school employees going to be given raises because they have to take on new responsibilities due to cuts in the budget? No! This was emphasized in the Record & Landmark article. It was reported that there would be no salary increases. I guess no one bothered to inform Ms. Broadnax, R & L reporter, of the raises for the administrators mentioned above. Why is it that the School Board sees no disparity in giving raises to administrators who take on additional duties but continues to ask other employees to do more and more for the same pay?

Click on the link below to view the online version of the article in the Record and Landmark that was referenced in this post.

Budget for I-SS coming into focus

July I-SS Board Meeting

I attended the I-SS board meeting on Monday evening. The Board Highlights available on the I-SS web site give a good summary of the meeting. You can click on the link below to access the Highlights.

July Board of Education Highlights Now Available

However, I would like to make a couple of comments. The first has to do with the 2% furlough for Board Members, Central Office administrators, and principals. Since this a furlough, and not just a reduction in pay, will the administrators and principals will be given a 2% percent reduction in their workloads? There was no mention of how that is to be accomplished. Also, it was mentioned that this would save the school system about $120,000.00 this year. If you do the math, that means that I-SS is paying it Central Office administrators and principals a total of approximately $6,000,000.00 a year. Six million dollars seems like a lot of money to me.

Next, has to do with the millions of dollars I-SS is planning on spending on construction and buying property. Although some have said that we should be able to use some of that money to pay the TAs who are losing their jobs, I think that Dr. Miller made it very clear that State and Federal regulations dictate how the money should be spent. Therefore, I think that is good for I-SS to request this money while it is available. However, I also think that I-SS needs to disclose the full details of each of these projects. For example, it was not made clear how the system will proceed with the Murdock Road property. Dr. Miller stated that the facility would house a career and technical education center, including the district’s growing auto tech program, currently housed at Statesville High School. But, there seems to be no specific plan of how to proceed once the property is purchased. It was mentioned at the Committee of the Whole meeting last week that the county has ask I-SS not to do anything with the property for six months in case there is business that would like to relocate and use the property. Another example is the Unity School property. I-SS has developed and cancelled a number of different plans for this property. Now the system has a new plan and has allocated up to $500,000.00 to start work on the renovations. Here again it was not clear how things would proceed. I have seen the Unity property and I wonder just how far that money will go. Dr. Miller stated that the proposal would be an excellent way to preserve the community’s history and partner with the community. It is about time for the system to carry through with that commitment.

Finally, the Board has moved the public comment segment to near the end of the meeting. I guess they hope most people will not stick around that long. There were several people who spoke about the Unity School project. In addition Janey Munday and I also spoke. Janey said that while I-SS often talks about transparency, when she and other citizens requested schools records, those records were at first reluctantly provided and then the school system started referring anyone requesting records to the attorney in Raleigh. Janey went on to say that it is costing the system a great deal of money to respond to the requests for records. Janey continued by saying that I-SS needs to be more diligent with its money and that if I-SS is truly a transparent school system then the doors should always open to the citizens of Iredell County to check records and to see that monies are spent wisely.

When I have spoken to the Board in the past, the written minutes have not always included everything I said. So this time I had prepared copies of my remarks to give to each of the Board members, the Board secretary and Dr. Holliday. The Board members are seated in a large arc at the front of the room. To the left of the Board members is the Board Secretary and then Dr. Holliday. There is a railing that separates them from the audience. When it was my turn to speak I walked from the right side of the room, where I was seated, to the left side of the room in order to hand the copies to Dr. Holliday since he was the closest to the railing. I assumed that he would simply take them and then pass them on to the Board secretary. Instead he just ignored me and would not take the copies from me as I tried to hand them to him. The secretary had to stand up, walk around behind Dr. Holliday, and then take the copies from me. Now, I am not a man of small stature, and as I said, I walked from the other side of the room, so I know Dr. Holliday saw me. I guess that is just another indication of his lack of character.

My comments to the Board are included below.

My name is Paul Klaene. Thank you for allowing me to speak this evening.

I am asking the Board to include the following comments in the minutes of this meeting for the record.

Federal law, NC state law, and I-SS policy allow the public to inspect, and receive copies of, school records. Following these laws and policies, I have asked to inspect certain school records. I have also asked to receive copies of some of these records. As I mentioned at the last Board meeting, I went to the Central Office on June 8th, as directed by School staff, to pick up some copies of school records. And, before I had a chance to pick up those copies, Dr. Holliday directed me to leave the Central Office. I was not being rude or disruptive in any way. I was at the office for a legal and rightful purpose.

Then, at the last Board meeting, Dr. Holliday chose to publicly chastise me for requesting to inspect school records. Dr. Holliday stated that I-SS had to pay $5,000.00 to retain a lawyer in order to respond to my requests. If the school administration had simply followed the law, and school policy, in responding to my requests, there would have been no need to retain an attorney.

It was totally inappropriate and unprofessional for Dr. Holliday to take these actions against me. I am asking both the Board and Dr. Holliday to publicly apologize to me for his actions.

This was a long post. Thank you for taking the time to read it.

Guilt By Association?

It was suggested in one of the comments to a previous post that by referring to the Central Office Administrators I am unfairly grouping some good administrators in with Dr. Holliday and his Baldrige buddies. I have to admit that is probably a valid statement. Regrettably, I don't have a decoder to tell the good from the bad. And I am not saying that everything that Dr. Holliday and his buddies have done is bad. For example, I do think that Dr. Holliday is working hard to keep all I-SS teachers employed. Unfortunately there are about 70 teacher assistants who are about to lose their jobs.

When I first started this blog I was just using the term administrators. My wife suggested that I say Central Office Administrators instead so that everyone would know that I was not including principals and assistant principals. We both knew that there were many good principals and assistant principals in the school system and that I was talking about what was being done by employees who were classified as Central Office Administrators. Sadly, ever since I started questioning the actions of I-SS officials and asking for access to school records, the interactions I have had with Central Office Administrator have been far less than helpful, cordial.

Now that Dr. Holliday has directed me not to contact any Central Office Administrator, my only observation of these administrators is at the I-SS Committee of the Whole meetings and the regular School Board meetings. Since the School Board and Dr. Holliday control these meetings, what one observes at these meetings is only that which Dr. Holliday wants everyone to observe.

Second Appointment to View I-SS Records

After communicating with Mr. Neal Ramee, the I-SS attorney whose office is in Raleigh, I was granted an appointment to view some more I-SS records. The appointment was this past Wednesday (7/1/09). The records were in the conference room and I-SS had an observer in the room with me. Actually there were several observers as each one would stay for about a half an hour and then be relieved by the next person. I guess they wanted me to feel like I was in after-school detention. In reality, it did not bother me and I could see some reasoning for it since I did have access to some original school documents.

I just hope that Dr. Holliday doesn’t chastise me at the next School Board, as he did at the last Board meeting. As I mentioned in a previous post, Dr. Holliday accused me of forcing I-SS to spend $5,000.00 in attorney fees and staff time to respond to my requests for public records. Of course he failed to mention that federal law, state law, and even school policy gives me the right to ask for access to school records. This time he will probably state how much it cost to have school staff observe me while I examined the records.

Again, not all the records I requested were made available. They are still collecting some of the records. Also, I did not have time to look at all the records provided so I have already asked Mr. Ramee for another appointment.

The first documents I looked at were the I-SS Organizational charts. I had asked to see the I-SS Administrative Organizational Charts from 2001 to the present. Mr. Ramee had told me that they would be available but the charts for several school years were missing. There was one from May 2001 but the next one was dated March 2005. I don’t know if the ones from 2002, 2003, and 2004 no longer exist or if someone just did not want me to see them. I was hoping to see how quickly the number of Central Office Administrators increased over the years that Dr. Holliday was superintendent. I have asked Mr. Ramee to have I-SS produce all the charts that I requested.

I spent most of my time looking at the invoices from Jim Shipley and Associates (JSA) dated from August 2003 up to June 2005. In that two-year period, I-SS paid JSA $90,739.97 for Baldrige materials and training. Included in that amount was payment to JSA to have Brenda Clark provide training and consulting for a total of 10 days at $1,800.00 per day and a total of 10 more days at $2,050.00 per day. Also included was payment to JSA to have Marty Moore provide training and consulting for a total of 9 days at $1,800.00 per day. This also meant that I-SS had to pay all the travel expenses for Ms. Clark to make 7 trips to Iredell County and for Ms. Clark to make 2 trips to Iredell County. (Of course, I-SS is now paying Ms. Clark $129,900.00 a year and Ms. Moore $105,000.00 a year as employees.) There was also a registration payment of $495.00 to JSA in April 2004 for five I-SS administrators (Holliday, Lane, Hill, Dorton, and Allred) to attend a Baldrige seminar that was held in Florida. Since the travel expenses were not paid to JSA there was no invoice for the cost to send 5 administrators to Florida for the seminar. Even at 2004 prices it was probably no small amount.

While other school systems are spending their funds to make sure students have the supplies and technology needed for learning in the twenty-first century, I-SS spends hundreds of thousands of dollars, or even more, to adapt a twentieth century business model to education.

Appointment to Examine Records

Renee Dulin, Janey Munday, and I have been making plans to go to the Central Office and view some of the I-SS financial documents. Renee and I were planning to go Thursday of this week and Janey and I were going to go next Thursday. Renee called and tried to schedule for this Thursday but she received word that Mrs. Wike, I-SS Financial Officer, would be busy this week as she was preparing for the annual audit. Since we could not go in and examine the documents this week, Renee and I decided to meet at the Statesville Library and share the information that we each had been accumulating. It was interesting to see that we each had several letters from the I-SS attorney, Mr. William McMillan, with regard to information we had requested. Who knows how much money the administration could have saved if they had simply provided the information requested.

I called Mrs. Wike this morning (Friday) to schedule an appointment for Janey and me to examine documents. As Mrs. Wike was in a meeting, I left a message saying that Janey and I would like to examine the following documents next Thursday: the 2008 audit report, all invoices from Jim Shipley and Associates for the last two years, all I-SS database indexes, and all consulting contracts between I-SS and any business, organization, individual, or group of individuals from January 2002 until the present. Renee wants us to look at the audit report, Janey wants to look at the invoices, and I want to look at the indexes and contracts. This afternoon, I received a call from Dawn Creason, I-SS Public Relations Director, and she told me they would have the documents ready for us to examine next Thursday.

An interesting note is that, not only are they going to have the database indexes that I have been requesting for some time, they are also going to have the consulting contracts available for inspection. Just a couple of weeks ago I received a letter from the I-SS attorney telling me that I would have to pay $2,000.00 for the staff to research and accumulate the consulting contracts. That was based on 40 hours of staff time at $50.00 per hour. I had responded to Mr. McMillan that I should not have to pay for those contracts since they were existing records and NC State law states that agencies must provide copies of existing public records at a minimal cost, which is defined as the actual cost of reproducing the public record. I have not yet heard back from Mr. McMillan.

In order to try to get the administration to follow state law I also sent an e-mail yesterday to the Board members, several administrators, and the school attorney. The text of the e-mail is inserted below.

Since many of you don't seem to be aware of the NC State law with regard to accessing public records I am providing a web address that will take you to the relevant section of NC State Law. When someone asks for access to public records you cannot deny access, or charge a fee, because that information is hard to find, or it is stored off site, or you have to redact confidential information. I ask that all of you carefully study the law so that, when in the future, someone asks for access to, or copies of, public records, he or she will not get the run around as I have been getting for the last several months.

Web address for access to section of NC law regarding public records.

http://www.ncga.state.nc.us/EnactedLegislation/Statutes/HTML/ByChapter/Chapter_132.html

I don’t know if my response to Mr. McMillan or if my e-mail made a difference. I am just glad that the administration is finally allowing access to the requested information. There is other information I have asked for and not yet received but hopefully this will get Renee, Janey, and I some of the information we are looking for. I will write a post next week and let every one know what we find out.

Does Dr. Holliday deserve a hefty compensation?

I would like to comment on Emily Ervin’s letter to the editor that was printed in the Saturday, May 23^rd, edition of the Statesville Record and Landmark. The headline for the letter states the I-SS Superintendent’s position warrants hefty compensation. Ms. Ervin’s letter justifies her opinion by stating that the school system is the county’s largest employer and that the superintendent is there for the credit or the blame. If you look at the I-SS administrative chart you will see that there are over 30 central office administrators who do the actual work of running the school system. That includes the associate superintendent, assistant superintendents, directors, officers, supervisors, and coordinators. But, that does not include all of the principals, assistant principals, and instructional facilitators. How many of these administrators does Dr. Holliday supervise? According to the administrative chart it is just one, and that is Brady Johnson, Deputy Superintendent. The I-SS attorney, Mr. William McMillan, confirmed this at the April Board of Education meeting. He was at the meeting to speak to my assertion that Dr. Holliday supervises Mrs. Holliday, who is a central office administrator. That would be a violation of the I-SS nepotism policy. Mr. McMillan said Dr. Holliday does not supervise his wife because there are at least two administrative intermediate links between them. Why does Dr. Holliday deserve a hefty compensation if he only supervises one employee? And the real question is: why is the School Board spending millions of dollars to pay all of these administrators when the budget is as bleak as it is? As others have said, we should take that money and put it in the classrooms where it will do some real good.

This post was written by Paul Klaene.