Though I have not been as active on the blog as I once was with posting, I look forward to each day of reading the daily comments! If there were such a category, I would nominate Cerebration for blog mistress of the year in DeKalb. What grew out of conversations on GDK has probably become one of the most talked about education blogs in the metro Atlanta area. Much credit should go to her and the many posters that make this THE place to go for discussion and insight regarding our school district. It is also great to see many employees also sharing perspectives and helping to educate the public on what they actually do.
I recall hearing that DCSS was considering starting a blog to ensure they get ahead with any messaging to the public. They have been woefully lacking in this area. The image (with apologies to George Lucas) is merely suggesting they are making an attempt to help address some misconceptions in the public domain. Go to this link which is accessible on the school district main page in the upper right hand corner, Budget Planning FY2011:
http://www.dekalb.k12.ga.us/superintendent/fy2011-budget.html
There is an FAQ link that is attempting to provide some clarity on some conversations seen on the blog. This is in addition to much of the information they have presented regarding remedies for addressing the budget. Hopefully this list will grow over time until they do get some type of blog up and running.
What do you think about the FAQ List? Is there other information you feel they should attempt to clarify for the public? We’ll leave specific budget discussions to the other blogs.
33 comments:
So glad you're back, psc!! Thanks for the post - I had not seen this link. I look forward to the school system initiating their own blog. In the meantime, they are always welcome to post an article here to clarify anywhere we are off-track.
Dekalb parent
I am very sad about eliminating 200 Paraprofessionals from the school system.As paras are working in the classroom with the students better than not less with the teacher, with having a large classroom size the most effective way of teaching should be with paras.Please re-consider the proposal again the board members for the good of our children.As to me you should not eliminate from the classroom.
Anon 12:54
I have NEVER advocated the elimination of paras! This is an economy that will be way more costly than the savings they use to justify it - it will just take a little while to show up. Where did you get the impression that I was in favor of it?
Are there TITLE I employees at the local schools?
Are you counting the Central Office TITLE I employees "off the General Fund" while counting the schoolhouse TITLE I employees in the "General Fund"?
If the Feds pay for these folks that is not an issue...
Are we missing something?
"DeKalb County School System has 1,239 Central Office employees (7.81%) out of a total of 15,859
employees. Of the 1,239 total, 982 (6.19%) are General Fund Central Office Employees. The remaining
257 (1.62%) Central Office Employees are funded through federal Special Education Funds, federal Title I
funds, School Nutrition funds, etc."
Regarding Dekalb County FAQs found at:
at http://www.dekalb.k12.ga.us/superintendent/fy2011-budget.html
"There are 14,620 School‐Based employees, but only 7,031 are teachers and media specialists. Is the
difference school administration?"
Am I the only one who finds it shocking that DCSS officially confirmed that the school system has less than 50% of its employees teaching students?
No wonder our kids are packed like sardines into classes. Where did we lose our focus?
Regarding Dekalb County FAQs found at:
at http://www.dekalb.k12.ga.us/superintendent/fy2011-budget.html
"Why does DeKalb County School System have 473 “Instructional Specialists” and what do they do?
Instructional Specialists, as classified by the state, are Art, Music, and Physical Education Teachers. These staff members are necessary to provide instruction to students."
I'm very disappointed that they did not mention the Staff Development Specialists:
Most of the personnel listed as Staff Development Specialists are Instructional Coaches.
I counted 80 of them and they account for $6,169,962 in salaries and around $1,542,490 in benefits for a total of $7,712,452 a year. There were some administrative personnel in this category, but I didn’t count them since they are few and they appear to be clerical in nature.
As far as I can tell, these Instructional Coaches are based in the schools. They facilitate the teaching of various subjects, act as liaisons between the directors of various programs, and provide materials to teachers for instruction. They do not teach students in classrooms (correct me if I’m wrong here teachers – maybe they model lessons on occasion).
Instructional coaches are the ones we have heard about the most on this blog. Teachers do not seem very happy with the help they have been getting from some members of this group.
These are some of their titles:
ELL Instructional Coaches, Intervention/Prevention Coaches, Middle School Math Instructional Coaches, High School Math Instructional Coaches, Middle School ELA Instructional Coaches, High School ELA Instructional Coaches
Anon 6:16 here...
Dekalb seems to be counting funds for Title I at the Central Office different that the funds for Title I at the schoolhouse.
My understand is the budget is insufficient because of Dekalb & State revenues not because of Title I shortages.
At the March 5th BOE meeting, Redovian said:
"I can’t vote for anything to take away money for the teachers and counselors if we don’t give them anything back; we need to take away all the paperwork, reports, etc and let them teach. We have to take the load off of them and then they might be more supportive of the cuts, if assured they would have less paperwork."
Unproductive programs like America's Choice, eSIS, Springboard, Instructional Coaches, etc. are adding to the excessive paperwork churned out by the Central Office administrators, robbing our children of instructional time. Even BOE members realize that the paperwork imposed by the Central Office administrators is unproductive and taking away from instructional time.
Click on the email the BOE and email the superintendent and let them know you support Mr. Redovian's attempt to reduce the negative impact these programs and personnel are having on our instructional program.
I want my son's teacher to be able to spend her time instructing, not wrestling with eSIS, teaching from an America's Choice script, or sitting in meetings with Instructional Coaches.
I just emailed all the BOE members and our new interim superintendent Ms. Tyson to let them know we support Mr. Redovian's idea of more instructional time for students and less busy work for students.
Mailing our BOE members and the interim superintendent is the most effective way we can let them know our children's needs.
NCLB and AYP is a burden to any school system, but in particular to school systems that have large numbers of students who do not make AYP.
If DCSS’s administration had implemented policies that improved student achievement, then much of the NCLB paperwork would be gone. I know from firsthand experience the tremendous amount of paperwork that is involved if a school DOES NOT MAKE AYP.
Consider the MADE AYP rate for DeKalb over time (source Georgia DOE):
2003 - 2004 86%
2004 - 2005 77%
2005 - 2006 71%
2006 - 2007 79%
2008 – 2009 71%
2008 - 2009 78%
So we are no better off than 2005 and 2006 and much worse off than 2004.
The huge expenditures for learning programs such as America’s Choice, Springboard, HSTW, Instructional Coaches, etc. that have been chosen by Central Office staff and tried in the 5 last years have not worked if measured by AYP figures.
Dr. Lewis took the helm in January, 2005, and AYP numbers have decreased since then.
Accountability should work at the highest levels.
I'm shocked. I looked at the official DCSS Frequently Asked Questions page. If you take out Media Specialists, you have about 6,950 actual classroom teachers - which leaves over 7,600 people employed in a SCHOOL system that do not actually teach. Simply incredible.
DeKalb School System is the poster child for why education needs to be privatized with a voucher system.
@ Anonymous 11:36 pm
If you're upset about the fact that so few of our employees teach our children, share your concerns with all the BOe members and Ramona Tyson, interim superintendent.
Click on the links to email all BOE members one email and email our interim superintendent (found above the Recent Comments section on the right hand side of this webpage),
"Am I the only one who finds it shocking that DCSS officially confirmed that the school system has less than 50% of its employees teaching students?"
Let us examine who the rest of these people are and what they do-
“Schoolbased employees include teachers and media specialists, but the positions of Principal, Assistant Principal, Counselor, Paraprofessional, Media Clerk, Certified Technical Support Specialist, Campus Supervisor, School Nurse, Bookkeeper, Secretary, School Nutrition Worker, Custodian, Bus Drivers, and Bus Aides are considered school‐based employees also.”
OK
Working backwards from the list provided by DCSS at http://www.dekalb.k12.ga.us/superintendent/fy2011-budget.html
I understand bus drivers, custodians (janitors), school nutrition workers (cafeteria ladies), bookkeeper, and secretary. School systems need all those people (although someone told me that in Japan the students do the janitorial under teacher supervision).
Is a bus aide someone who helps get kids on and off and provides crowd control on the bus? I have no idea.
Campus supervisor-I looked that up- that’s the security guard.
Certified Technical Support Specialist-the person who keeps the computer network running at each school, most schools share one.
The media clerk, paraprofessional, counselor, assistant principals (many schools have several) and the principal I understand. Based on this list I am not at all shocked that only 50% of the employees are teachers. Of course, the paraprofessionals are helping to teach since they are class room aides.
bus aides are generally found on special ed buses...
I've been on the fence about vounchers. I think that they take funds from the public schools that need them. Public schools don't have a choice about who they educate. I'm also a firm believer in competition and the free market -- look how much better telephones became when Mama Bell lost its monopoly. Competition is good. I think if you factor in alot of the things we've been learning about the nepotism, croynism and corruption in DeKalb, coupled with how little is being spent actually on the children, a very strong case can be made that it is really time to give vouchers a try and put competition into the game.
@ Anonymous 12:28
Of course some support positions are necessary. No one wants to do away with all support positions.
But to be in a situation where your teacher base is shrinking while your admin and support base is growing is a recipe for eduatioal disaster. How low does our teacher base have to get? How many students does my child have to sit in a classroom with - 35 , 36, 37, 38?
Every support person that is added or is employed by DCSS ensures that our children will be in larger classes. That's why it's important to look at everything we can to reduce the admin and support side of DCSS.
The only people who cannot be eliminated in a school system are the teacher and her students - i.e. the classroom.
The entire school system turns on how well teachers and students are doing their jobs, and it is the job of every admin and support person to understand that.
I think DCSS has lost their focus on the classroom - not surprising since support and admin now outnumber classroom personnel.
I think most people would consider paras part of the classroom. It's terribly shortsighted of Ms. Tyson to recommend the elimination of paraprofessionals who teachers and students really find useful while refusing cuts in an area like the Instructional Coaches program which the teachers feel actually impedes instruction. The 80 Instructional Coaches we have in schools don't teach any students and cost DCSS $7,500,000 in salary and benefits. Their average salary and benefits is $94,000 per Instructional Coach.
Cutting some positions, consolidating others and outsourcing more will enable DCSS to pay less in admin and support salaries.
For example, there are many programs that can be cut and the support that goes with them. The Wellness program comes to mind, Fernbank Science Center (I know everyone loves Fernbank - I do too, but it costs DCSS millions a year, and science scores are still terrible in the county), America's Choice, Springboard, etc. Our scores have not improved in the last 5 years while Dr. Lewis has been in power (starting in 2004).
Consider the MADE AYP rate for DeKalb over time (source Georgia DOE):
2003 - 2004 86%
2004 - 2005 77%
2005 - 2006 71%
2006 - 2007 79%
2008 – 2009 71%
2008 - 2009 78%
So we are no better off than 2005 and 2006 and much worse off than 2004.
Outsourcing is an attractive idea because we can reduce our benefits and retirement cost. It's also attractive because our teachers have expressed so much discontent with poor customer service from departments like MIS and HVAC.
Any dollar we can cut from admin and support can be returned to the classroom in order to reduce our pupil teacher ratio. After all, the school system is not a system about jobs, it's a system about students.
This just in.... BAD BAD BAD!
Just received the bad news e-mail from the governor’s office that revenues are down 9.9 percent for the month, which is much worse than what had been expected.
I have always believed that the short fall from the state would be closer to 100 million or more. That is what the board should be budgeting for. Not the 88 million currently projected.
March 8, 2010
NOTICE OF DBOE COMMITTEE MEETING - BUDGET, FINANCE & FACILITIES
The DeKalb Board of Education Committee on Budget, Finance & Facilities will hold a meeting on Wednesday, March 10, 2010 at 8:30am in the
Superintendent's Conference Room at the DeKalb County School System's Robert R. Freeman Administrative Center, Building A, 3770 North Decatur Road in Decatur, Georgia. The purpose of the meeting is to review Board policies and system-wide operations as it relates to finance & facilities.
Why does a school need a "bookkeeper"?
And many of our high schools and middle schools have more assistant principals than needed.
BUDGET THOUGHTS
(1) Boo Debbie Rives, America's Choice enabler and ex-Crawford right-hand (wo)man, from the building and throw out America's Choice. It's a worthless piece of crap that only allows its owners and workers to gain millions of dollars of federal $$$ at the expense of teachers' time and students' learning.
(2) Stop funding INSTRUCTIONAL COACHES to just sit around the schools and do little less than nothing. They stand around and talk, they sit around and talk, they harass teachers they find threatening and try to make those teachers seem "bad" so as to make themselves look "good." They interfere with the positive relationships that teachers attempt to build with students, one another, and administrators. They are negative in every sense of the word, and the $$$$ used to fund them could be better used for purchasing bathroom cleaning supplies.
@ Anonymous 4:00 pm
I got a response from my BOE representative Paul Womack bakc in January when I wrote him about the need to cut, consolidate and outsource the admin and support side of DCSS, and he said the $56,000,000 shortfall was supposed to go to $88,000,000, but thought it would go to $100,000,000.
Ms. Tyson and the BOE simply cannot pack any more students into the classrooms. She has calculated how many bodies will fit into a room instead of addressing the real solution of too many admin and support personnel. Consider that we are now down to only 48% (7,031) of our employees (14,620) as teachers, and every one of Ms. Tyson's proposals will bring that percentage down even further.
As a teacher said to me today, "My classes are so large, it's verging on crowd control". Is that what we parents want - "crowd control" for our children? Who can teach and who can learn in classes that size?
Ms. Tyson is not even considering putting the 80 Instructional Coaches ($7,5000000), 13 literacy coaches ($835,000), and 48 graduation coaches ($3,500,000) back into the classroom. That's 141 teachers who don't ever teach children, and they represent almost $12,000,000 in salary and benefit cost to DCSS.
Ms. Tyson is more concerned that DCSS reduces everyone's salary a certain percent because it seems "fair" for all employees (ajc quote). What's fair for the students should be her focus. They just children, and they have no one to stand up for them.
I'm appalled that every one of Ms. Tyson's proposals are slanted towards keeping the status quo with respect to employees and expensive programs rather than focusing on the quality of education for our children.
Our children only get one chance, one shot at an education. DeKalb is fast becoming the most unattractive place to teach in the metro area. What does that say for the future of our kids?
Ms. Tyson and the BOE should be thinking about how DCSS can attract and retain good teachers and lower the pupil teacher ratio. Not about how many jobs she can save. Save our kids first. Then she can think about the grown-ups.
@ Anonymous 12:28
Well, in Japan they have an almost 100% literacy rate. Can you say that about DeKalb? Maybe they have more teachers and less "support".
"80 Instructional Coaches ($7,5000000), 13 literacy coaches ($835,000), and 48 graduation coaches ($3,500,000) back into the classroom."
Great stuff ANON 5:27 PM, but you have a duty to e-mail Ms. Tyson and every BOE member.
On the issue of Japanese education, in case you missed it the first time, watch this video showing exactly how one Japanese teacher interacts with his students - and there are plenty of them! His class is lively, noisy, busy and engaged. But mostly, they behave as a family - the students know the teacher cares about them - and so do their peers.
http://dekalbschoolwatch.blogspot.com/2009/08/imagine.html
I am begging the parents who frequent this blog to innundate Ms. Tyson with emails protesting lowering teacher salary and increasing class size while at the same time keeping "coaches" and "supervisors". They continue to create work for teachers so that they can look busy, but they are not helping. My hands are full with the students I have now and I can't imagine how I can do a better job with more students in the room. Please help us do what's best for your kids.
Firemarshall here---
After this school year, there won't be any trailers in any high school.
Fire code allows only 27-28 students and a teacher in tralers...
Teachers: trailers with 27-28 or Couty jails..
Board of Education,
Speaking of equity so dear to Dekalb County, how in God's holy name can you ask a high school teacher to teach 180-230 students in 6 X 50 minutes classes with 50 minutes of planning while having another teacher teach just 90-105 students in 3 X 90 minutes classes with 90 minutes of planning?
Whatever happened to "involuntary servitude"???
Vox
"Why does a school need a "bookkeeper"?"
Don't know that they do but every school house is responsible for keeping to a budget, entering in purchase orders, verifying receipt of purchases, and authorizing payment for purchases on line in keeping with the approved budget. In addition, all funds taken up at the school house for local funds have a bank account separate from the school system. The bookkeeper receipts every intake of funds, receives purchase orders for those funds, orders the supplies or materials, verifies their receipt and issues local checks out of those funds (band fees, field trips, candy sales, donations, etc.) Many schools run a local budget of their own for these non system expenses of $50,000 to $100,000 per year. Each bookkeeper is audited yearly on these and the correct procedures for system wide expenditures. This seems to cut down on the instances of some teacher or principal or PTA person pocketing the money instead of using it for the intended purpose. State mandated ethics policies require that someone keep the books.
So the book keeper is the purchasing agent, local school finance agent, receiving clerk, and audit contact.
"Many schools run a local budget of their own for these non system expenses of $50,000 to $100,000 per year."
With salary and benefits, a bookkeeper costs us about $50,000 per year!
Why not a part-time position with no benefits?
Desperate times. Hard cuts to be made.
Many schools run a local budget of their own for these non system expenses of $50,000 to $100,000 per year."
With salary and benefits, a bookkeeper costs us about $50,000 per year!
Why not a part-time position with no benefits? it really is a full time job-although you might ask several people to share it-some secretaries could act as bookkeeper but they would have to answer the phone less. By the way full time bookkeepers have 35 hour weeks, may work up to 40 and receive no extra pay. The $100,000 in local funds is the least of their duties. School budgets via the system are usually more. I suppose if you are dubious you could offer to volunteer with one of the bookkeepers for a day or two. They probably would appreciate the help.
"expenses of $50,000 to $100,000"
What an easy job! I hate to say it, but many of us manage that much or more in our household budgets. And we have also all cut back on the personal budgetary "frills".
I forgot, the bookkeepers do all the payroll and time keeping, the per pupil allocations, and the title money if any. Of course, if we cut out the payroll at the schools we wouldn't need book keepers. Your household budgeyt of $100,000 is more than mine but much less than the system and local funds that a book keeper at any school manages.
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