The Plain Dealer did us a favor. If you haven’t seen Sunday’s PD you must check it out. It has a list of every districts pay scales in our six county area. The article points out that our teachers don’t have it so bad. In fact a new teacher in CF makes the same annual wage as our city’s medium income. Add in the benefits and time off and we have first year teachers out pacing the average taxpayer paying the bills by 50%. It also says that there is not a teacher shortage. One of the lowest paying districts in northeast Ohio had over 150 applications last year. The article also says to me that our pay is on par with our community. The higher the community’s medium income, the higher the teachers pay. Ohio is 14th in the nation for average teacher pay. Not bad.
I often hear the argument of what is a teacher worth. I’m the first to admit that it depends on the teacher. Some teachers are worth their weight in gold. Others aren’t worth the paper their degree is printed on. So instead of trying to decide what a teacher is worth at this point, let’s discuss what people are worth in general.
Most of us come out of college or technical school in debt to some degree. And I hope we can agree that most professions have their own unique challenges and levels of brains needed to perform. Most of us pay out of our own pocket for continuing education. Many of us must get our C/E hours on our own time as well to keep our licenses. Most of us take work home. Most of us work 238 days per year. (I gave everyone weekends, 12 holidays and 2 week’s vacation.) Most of us can’t demand a raise because we feel cheated in pay from the profession we chose. Most of us don’t have free insurance. In fact most of us pay 50% premiums or more. Most of us can’t earn $5000 to $15,000 on top of our wages with supplemental and extra duty contracts. Most of us don’t have tenure. Most of us have to prove our worth through performance to keep our jobs. Some of us have mandatory overtime. Some of us must take vacations when the shop shuts down for maintenance. Some of us haven’t had a raise in years. A few of us have taken pay cuts, layoffs, elimination of positions, wage freezes, and no benefits at all. Some of us are held to 30-hour workweeks. Some have had their names on the delinquent tax list. Most people live paycheck to paycheck and carry some debt. If you think any of this is off base, let me know.
Someone asked about the survey. The survey has been put on hold. With the holidays here and the hustle and bustle of all that comes with it, it was decided that it would get lost in the junk mail and Christmas cards. I have been asked about the cost. It seems some board members have been spouting about the huge expense of this survey. Let’s put it this way. It cost $10,000. That’s less than the raises and benefits this same board member handed over to our top two administrators. Hardly an amount to sneeze at yet in the scheme of things it’s really a drop in the bucket. I can guarantee we will get a better idea of what this community want’s from this survey than from the people who got raises. Another reason it was put on hold is the board cannot agree on a direction the survey should take. Some want it centered on the “Plan for Excellence”. A plan most people who pay taxes here know nothing about. OK. Let’s waste ten grand asking people about a plan they don’t even know exists. Another smart move from the Cuyahoga Falls Board of Education.
Speaking of the Plan for Excellence, I have an update. A third co chair has been added to the redistricting committee. Cuyahoga Falls’ Molly Benedum was asked to join the two Silver Lake chairs. Thank goodness! It will be an uphill battle for equity but I have faith in Molly. She knows the numbers in this school district better than anyone. If you have never looked at her blog, you really should take a peek. She puts the numbers, facts and info behind all the things I complain about. She also has a vested interest in our district for at least the next 20 years with generations W, X, Y, and Z at her house.
As for the board meeting this week, should be long but informative. Part 3 of school finance from our CEO. A presentation on the 07/08 program of studies for the HS. The regular business of appointments and such. Approval of an agreement for a property tax valuation reduction from 15 million to 11.3. Hope to see you there!
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
9 comments:
To: Kellie,
How would you summarize the ~43 comments from your previous posting?
Why is the BOE focusing on one perfect survey? Consider a series of one page random sampling surveys. Each survey in the series can be a little better than the last?
What happens if someone (at no cost to the BOE) does a series of random sampling surveys? Would that be useful?
Lou Schott
Ms. Patterson,
While I tend to agree with most of what you say, and believe you to be doing what you think is in the best interest of our community, there are times when you are in your own little world with your own little agenda. It seems teachers salaries are one of them. I will not argue the point that you made of teachers salaries being in the middle of the road as salaries go in Cuyahoga Falls....it is probably very accurate. I will, however question the group of people that you have compared. When comparing these salaries have you included the entire city, more than 50% of whom have no college degree, or have you only compared those who live in this fine city who have equivelent educations (Bachelor's, Master's degrees plus)? Have you included the fine community of Silver Lake? I know you have a personal battle with all things Silver Lake, but they are included in OUR school community, it does not start and end within the Cuyahoga Falls proper. I believe that if you do this you will find that the teachers in this system are pretty low as far as the income level is concearned. Next I challenge you to take the salaries of different professional groups who live in this school community and compare them with the salaries of equivelent groups who live outside of this community....while the other groups will compare equally, you will find that the salaries of teachers in this community are lower than those in other communities. As for being able to make an extra $5-$15,000 in supplemental contracts, everyone has the opportunity to take a second job, as these supplemental duties are. I would guess that you could make a bit more money in a shorter ammount of time working a second job than the teachers who are working a second job by taking supplemental duties make during the same time frame...not to mention a great reduction in the actual hours put into that job. Once you have done this, is it possible for you to post it properly so all can read?
To: Concerned, Leslie, and all of the kind people who work to make an honest living,
The business of how much to pay for important services is a sensitive concern. The allocation of limited resources is the basis for our conflict and our cooperation. And, our principles and values help us square our ability to feel comfortable or uncomfortable with the exchange of trade.
The algorithms holding the changing market prices change every day. Thus, our only recourse (as a listening & learning community) is to change every day. But, what do we change?
What do you think are the most important questions for our community to ask itself?
What do you feel will enable more people to feel more comfort with their community, city council, library, and school?
I hope this helps.
Lou Schott
Dear Barry & others who want in survey our community members,
We could work up a set of questions for a survey here and now. It could be a one page with 10 questions. We could run off a 100 copies and distribute them to our neighbors. We could ask our neighbors to fill out the survey and rubber band it their door knob on a certain day. Then we could walk around and pick up the survey.
Each of us could summarize the results for their neighborhood and post it on a blog set up for just that purpose.
The survey would not be perfect according to any pristine statistician. But, sometimes perfection is the enemy of progress.
The results of our survey would be that we know more after the survey than before we did the survey.
The cost is low and the quality of the survey may not be high. But, we have attempted to inform and involve our neighbors regarding our mutual community concerns.
What can we lose?
Lou Schott
To: Kellie and others concerned about how much to pay for the services of our people who work in schools,
The answers to these questions are complex. In fact, this is one of the areas where the complexity exceeds the systems solutions required to 'put a man on the moon'.
But, I think that we can simplify this part of the education industry -- if we define our terms.
Please allow me to try.
Before I can define our terms, I need to clarify our assumptions. Thus, I assume that the primary purpose of our education industry is to help prepare our people to compete in the global information-based society.
Our little people (formerly called students and sometimes products (within an industrial-based society)) are now required to solve problems within an information-based society.
The second assumption is that information is almost immediately available and an almost infinite resource. This means 'teachers' now act as 'facilitators of problem solving'. Their job has shifted from delivering information to supporting the listening, learning, and rapidly adapting problem solving process embraced by their customers.
The third assumption is that teachers (now called facilitators ...) want to improve their productivity so they can increase their value to their customers.
And, this gets us to the point where we must define our customer.
Is the customer the little people who don't listen in class? Is it the parents of the little people? Or, is it the voters who vote to pay the bills? Or, is it the homeowners who pay the bills? Or, is it the businesses that must compete in the global ... society?
So, again -- who is the customer? Your thoughts -- please.
Lou Schott
Have you considered how much of their own money educators spend on your children? We often times buy our own supplies, classroom books, student incentives, etc... Please take that into consideration when discussing salaries.
To: All of the kind people who want to solve problems in our community,
Please allow me to applaud all of your comments (so far). We have managed to discuss our problems for about 14 comments without trashing each other. This is progress.
-=-=-=-=-=-
Barry, I share your hopes (as stated in your last comment. And, your point related to 'parents are the vendors of the little people' is useful.
Please allow me to hitch-hike on it.
Our education (problem solving) systems have 'feedback loops'. Motherof3 suggests the customers (feedback loops) are both 'students and parents'.
And, I am comfortable with her statement. At the same time, I want to suggest that we now have the tools (internet) to deliver information to ALL OF THE PEOPLE IN OUR COMMUNITY at a very low cost. We are able to do it. But, we are still unwilling to do it -- AT THIS TIME.
While some may think that the amount of money (stored time) paid to our community members is highly important, others know that our 'productivity' is even more important. When 'wages' go up and 'productivity' remains the same then we get 'inflation'. 'Inflation' gets passed off to the next guy without any long term benefit.
Currently we ask people, "How much do you make in dollars?" However, we should ask, "How much have you increased your personal and team 'productivity'?"
Please allow me to list some ways that every teacher, baker, and candlestick maker can improve their 'productivity'. Here's a short list:
1. Know all of the people around you by their names.
2. Help them form 'problem solving' teams.
3. Create a personal website to post examples of your best product and service.
We could generate a list of 100s of additional ways to increase our productivity. It takes a little time. But, it does not take a lot of money. And, we help to beat 'inflation'.
Thus, let me close this comment by asking, "What are some ways that others could increase their productivity to benefit you -- as a customer?"
How do you think that I can help you?
Lou Schott
Lou,please do not toy with us. There is a ground swell of support for you.The time has come for you to declare that you are running for the Board of Education for 2007.
To: M Hewlett and others concerned for our BOE and other leadership roles in our community,
While I am flattered that you think many people in our community might want to consider me as a BOE candidate, I am also uncomfortable with that assignment. I am uncomfortable because I am reasonably sure that I would not operating at my highest and best use (as a BOE member).
I think that my highest and best use is to operate as a 'community maverick'. A maverick is someone who does not conform to the group norms. In my view, a maverick is someone who pulls people into a more positive and useful leadership roles in a community.
I want to inform and involve everyone in our community -- as to how they can play a personal leadership role in our community.
I think that leaders in our community do not need to be branded as a BOE member, Mayor, Council Person, or Library Trustee to be a community leader.
I consider every teacher, librarian, parent, and community member as a potential leader. We simply have not empowered them to be the best that they can be.
We have the tools (Internet). We have the techniques (creative problem solving processes). We simply need people to be willing to get the training and the experience. This is real simple stuff.
Let me know how you think that I can help.
Lou
Post a Comment