Wednesday, July 19, 2006
If I Were A Rich Man, Deedle Deedle, Diedle Dum
This will be short and sweet. I am weary but I felt I should share the news ASAP. 3.3% raises for the CEO and CFO are in effect as of August 1, 2006. I swear I saw union members licking their chops. This totally negates the savings gained in Project Recovery. It's like this- the pay freeze voluntarily taken last year was just made up for.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
4 comments:
Please allow me to comment on the process of making decisions related to compensation. During the last decision on 7-18-06, the only indicator cited was the CPI.
The CPI is a leading indicator used by 'Federal Policy Makers'. But, the CPI is not the only indicator used by decision makers. We have other leading indicators. And, we have current indicators. And, we have lagging indicators.
One lagging indicator is 'interest rates'. The Federal Reserve increases 'short term interest rates' to lower the 'CPI' in the future.
Our community leaders need to know what the value of the key indicators are for our community. Indicators are required to make 'data driven decisions'.
We must ask our 'library leaders' (reference librarians) and our 'community development leaders at the city' to help us understand the value of the indicators for our community.
We need to recognize that everyone wants to be 'positively re-enforced' for their work toward solving problems in our community. Money is one form of 'satisfier'. But, it only 'satisfies' up to a certain point.
Pain 'dissatifies' people. If the pain is great enough then people will forget that money ever existed and ask to die.
If we want to be 'problem solvers' and not 'problem causers' then we must identify all of our problems. So, the question we may want to ask ourselves -- how can we apply this to our comments on this blog.
Here are some tactics:
1. Identify the useful action required to solve the problems.
2. Avoid trashing the 'persona' of the man or woman.
3. Show how the useful action will solve the problems.
I think that one reason administrators 'keep secrets' is because they are afraid they will be critized for not having all of the facts or do not know what is going on. I think that this may be a greater problem for people who are teachers -- who know they must prepare their class materials. Thus, they are prisoners of their past successes.
What do you think?
Please allow me to comment on the frustrations expressed on the many blogs around the world. We have a new tools. The blog is one of many. I think the most important question facing our community and our planet is -- how do we use these tools to solve problems using a 'win-win' format?
Simply expressing a 'frustration' is only a step. It is an important step. But, at some point we need to add the second, third, etc. steps. Making these steps requires us to embrace a larger understanding of what is happening around us. And, we need to understand the cause and effect relationships of our social, financial, and training systems.
We need to understand that our BOE members reflect the diversity of our community. Their opinions will change -- as the 'collective (but silent) genius' of our community changes. The names of our BOE members will change as our voters change their opinions.
We know too much about which we can do too little. Thus, an accurate and realistic community view is important. We can only gain a community view -- if we are willing to 'defer judgment'. Otherwise, or biases and agendas will filter our ability to think clearly.
In summary, we cannot look at the sun rising over just a lake or just a falls. We must look at all of our problems in an honest, open, and responsible manner. We can not fix problems -- unless we can define the problems.
So, what do you think -- if we just start a list using simple sentences to help us agree on the problem statements?
Lou
Russ:
Sorry my hot air made you uncomfortable. Surely you aren't suggesting I should have rolled over and played dead. As for the fire with no fuel comment, I had two people scream at me last week about property taxes, workbook fees, school fees, milk fees, activity fees, on and on. I am supposed to tell them the fees are to support programming and activities. Yet they retaliate by saying "use my damn taxes to support it! It looks like my money is supporting raises for everyone, not programs". I hope when you pre-wrote the vote, you got the vote count right! Oh and of course the unions heads were licking their chops. Can you imagine walking in with that bargaining chip!
D Fross:
Am I to assume you attend meetings? I don't post the results of OGT because the ODE does. I expect our district to succeed and perform well. If you want a pat on the back, go talk to your Dad. My blog is for informing the public how their money is being spent. If I wanted to be a cheer leader I would have signed up in high school. If you want to report on how the district is performing academically, start your own blog. Or feel free to post ODE results here.
Leslie, Barry, and Momof3:
Great debate on teachers and merit. It really makes a person think about funds vs. qualities expected. I'll be honest though. I hate being forced to keep teachers who have lost interest in their jobs and are just working toward retirement. It's a dis-service to tax payers, parents, the community in general, but most importantly the kids they teach. But Barry I must disagree with the comment teachers earn their pay the minute they start the journey to teach. Some do, some don't. In my industry, I went to school, I passed a test and I became licensed. But Had to earn my pay by proving myself to my bosses, but more importantly, the paying customer. In the school districts case, we the parents and tax payers are the paying customers and we have no control over the quality of services. Our only choice is to shell out even more money to a private school to attain services we already pay for through property taxes. I wouldn't mind paying top dollar for teachers if I could ensure they were worth it and they had teh same rules the ordinary folks live by. Most people today do not have unions protecting their jobs and must prove themselves to keep their jobs and earn raises. And studies show that workers perform better when goals for bonuses are attached to contracts. Kind of the eye on the carrot syndrome. If I have to strive to attain better pay, I will strive to attain better pay. Why strive for better pay when I'll get it regardless?
Post a Comment