I know I have not posted much lately. Believe me; I haven’t lost sight of the importance of sharing information about the inner workings of the school district, or the value of input from the public.
It has been quiet
The school board, the superintendent, and senior staff have been working diligently to make the budget cuts as painless as possible. This crisis is all consuming. No one ever wants to make cuts, but when they are necessary having the executives who have to make the tough decisions put past issues aside and focus on what is important is crucial.
It has been the school board’s priority from the beginning not to lay people off and to not let the budget cuts affect the classroom. We would not exist if it were not for the children. And as far as layoffs are concerned; I realize the impact we have as the largest employer in Hillsborough County on the community as a whole. We are a huge economic engine in our community and if we start laying people off the impact is going to have a much greater cost to the greater good of the community. Salaries constitute over 80% of our total budget. That means over 2.8 billion dollars feeds into sales taxes, property taxes, money spent at local restaurants, stores, etc. The importance of our impact, aside from educating our children, cannot be over looked.
Careful, considerate planning
For the past 2 ½ years or so we have been working realistically and diligently to foresee problems in advance. While other districts are closing schools, laying off employees, or giving across the board pay cuts. Through careful planning we have been able to cut almost a hundred million dollars from our budget without having to resort to any of these drastic measures. When I ran for office Hillsborough County School district had one of the highest administrative cost per student. I am proud to report that I just read a state report that list Hillsborough County School district as one of the lowest administrative cost per student in the entire state of Florida. We started cutting at the administrative level and continue to do so. This is positive progress.
The school board directed the superintendent to communicate every step of the way during these difficult times. I have received a lot of feed-back from employees that they have appreciated the communication. It has alleviated fears and kept the rumor mill to a minimum. We also understand that communication is a two way street and have afforded opportunities to our employees and the general public to share ideas on areas we could cut, and we have listened. We have used many of the ideas submitted and appreciate the input.
Please continue to feel free to share your ideas and concerns…we are listening.
10 comments:
Don't know where the best place to post this is, but I am the coordinator for an organization called GET REAL Involved! We are a student service organization that coordinates turn key service projects once a month for students in Middle and High School. We strive to create opportunities that will get students involved, but also enable them to earn valued service hours toward Bright Futures Scholarships, honor societies, clubs and honors programs. We have a website with all the latest information at www.getrealinvolved.org. Thanks for the forum to communicate.
SOME THOUGHTS....
I stopped steaming a while after reading the article in today's paper regarding SDHC setting up more guidelines and more closely monitoring internet use by employees. I would advise some caution before jumping into this one. I DO fully understand the grave reality of the economic situation and the need to trim every necessary penny. I also completely agree that sending large files/photos, etc. is a misuse of the computer system. That being said--most teachers "tie up" their personal computers at their homes funded by their money used on their unpaid, non-school hours. They also "tie up" their personal cellphones making long distance calls to parents' cell phone numbers (FOUR area codes for me) to parents (which cannot be done from school phones)funded by their money on their unpaid, non-school hours. I would suggest schools deal with this on a site basis with individual teachers. This only deals with the technology SDHC doesn't have to fund. As you know, teachers use untold amounts of personal money, time and other resources to do their jobs the best they can. A move like this could cost SDHC more than any amout of money saved.
Again--thanks for all you do.
Pam
Let me add a few things to the previous post. As a high school teacher I can not even begin to account for the number of times that I have used my family's teachnology at home for school use. The fact remains that MOST teachers do their jobs well and this smells like another bash on teachers. I'm sure every company, organization or school district has faced this issue but it's a shame that it makes the paper when it involves teachers. The fact is that I am a working motehr of two and you bet that there have been times when I have emailed my child's teacher or my husband regarding arrangements. I do NOT send large files of pictures or videos and I don't appreciate this type of babysirring. The same people that posted to the TBO.com article were probably doing so from their jobs. Why the double standards. My peers all said the same thing about this- just another morale killer. What a shame!
They are not interested in saving money. They want to intimidate employees.
Hope you post this Ms. Griffin, my last one didn't pass the "nice" test or was it my mentioning Steve the suspended ESE teacher who is being held w/o charges in administrative purgatory?
Dont you feel any sympathy for this man? How would you feel if your son were treated this way someday?
Mr. Vaughan,
My decision to not post your last comment had nothing to do with passing any "nice" test. I did not post it because it is a personell issue.
I kindly ask that you don't make any assumptions about my feelings or involvement in Mr. Kemp's situation without knowing all of the facts.
If there are matters you would like to discuss you may contact me via email or phone. I believe you have my number. If not let me know and I will give it to you.
At your service, April Griffin
Ms Griffin
If you would be willing to explain why this apparently skilled teacher is being kept busy as a paper pusher I would love to hear about it. Its not just Steve. Ms Griffin this could happen to any one of us. It happened to me. Ms. Kipley herself told me how the numbers of abuse complaints against teachers has tripled in the years she has been in charge of professional standards.
If I recall correctly, I posited that it might be helpful to give guidance to teachers on how to avoid these problems. It seems to me as long as administration is willing to let teachers twist in the wind and show them little support (not good politically I guess) this "problem" will only get worse. If these abuse complaints have tripled as she said we have a problem that NEEDS to be addressed NOW.
Any suggestion that it is in the interest of teachers to curtail their participation in discussing these issues in blogs is a self serving attempt to protect the status quo which, in my opinion, is tantamount to sacrificing teachers for political expediency.
Those are the matters I want to speak to you about. Are you willing to talk to me? I believe we can find a way not to violate Mr. Kemps right to due process and your obligation to remain unbiased. What do you think?
Mr. Vaughan,
I am always willing to discuss issues that will improve our district. I always have been. I will not discuss an employee who's case is not settled without that employees permission though. I would do the same for you and I hope you can respect that.
Please call or email me and we will talk about your experiences and suggestions. You have my number right?
At your service, April
Yes indeed. I do have your number.
Mr. Vaughan,
Are you being a smart a#$? Or should I expect a call?
I am a parent of a high school freshman who is being graded on SAT practice tests in a so-called "reading" class. If her score goes up, she gets an A. If it stays flat, she gets a B. If it dips, she gets a C. I object to my child being graded on SAT practice tests in any way, but this grading scheme is truly ridiculous and is adversely affecting the GPA of my daughter, who reads at a high level but doesn't score well on arbitrary and capricious tests like the SAT. District supervisors say they are using this course to increase the National Merit Scholars from Hillsborough. Even if it achieves that goal, how is it fair to the vast number of students who can use their GPA to attract lesser scholarships and achieve entry to the college of their choice but will never be in the running for National Merit? Why is it assumed that everyone will take the SAT? Is this not truly an unadulterated case of "teaching to the test," and is that in the best interest of our children? Please post this. I would like to know what other parents think.
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