Friday, February 25, 2011

“Too Many Chiefs and Not Enough Indians”

DCSS has “too many chiefs and not enough Indians”. The figures below show why certified teachers must vacate the classroom and stop teaching our children in order to get ahead in DCSS. These numbers come from the state Report Card web pages. They reflect the number and pay of certified personnel in the DeKalb County School System as well as a comparison with the other metro Atlanta school systems.

8,200+ DCSS employees hold current certificates with the Georgia Professional Standards Commission, almost all being teaching certificates, yet only 6,374 are fulltime teachers.

Looking at Average Annual Salary (benefits NOT included), Average Daily Salary, and numbers of certified personnel over the last three years, Teachers (and therefore students) have borne the brunt of cost cutting in this recession. The result of a constant reduction in teaching positions rather than sharply decreasing admin and support personnel has been increased class sizes and decreased student achievement.

These figures illustrate that the way to make the most money, have the most job security, and bear the least responsibility for student achievement is to get out of and stay out of the classroom.

*Note that Support (no supervisory duties) personnel work only 7 more days a year than Teachers, yet they make over $10,000 more in Average Annual Salary than Teachers.

DCSS Certified Administrators, Support Personnel and Teachers - Number of Employees and Average Salary
2007-10





Administrative 2007-08
Administrative 2008-09
Administrative 2009-10
Number
550
534
524
Fulltime number
541
528
518
Average Annual Salary
$88,255
$91,297
$90,901
Average Contract Days
227
226
225
Average Daily Salary
$390
$404
$404





Support 2007-08
Support 2008-09
Support 2009-10
Number
963
939
974
Fulltime number
880
857
911
Average Annual Salary
$63,202
$65,654
$64,891
Average Contract Days
198
198
198
Average Daily Salary
$319
$331
$329





Teachers 2007-08
Teachers 2008-09
Teachers 2009-10
Number
6994
6887
6739
Fulltime number
6631
6539
6374
Average Annual Salary
$52,728
$54,587
$54,413
Average Contract Days
191
191
191
Average Daily Salary
$277
$286
$285






Since Teachers are the employees who instruct our students and are TOTALLY responsible for making AYP, it seems obvious that DCSS has lost its focus.

Many posters have said their BOE members want statistics before they will admit our administrative and support group is overstaffed and overpaid while our teacher group is understaffed. Please refer them to these statistics the state has required DCSS to provide. These statistics have been subsequently posted on the state DOE website by the state of Georgia DOE Information Technology group.

Mrs. Tyson needs to begin and the new superintendent needs to continue to right size our ratio of Staff (admin and support) to Teacher personnel as well as right size the pay schedule for the admin and support group. Maybe this will encourage the BOE to press Mrs. Tyson for that missing 2004 Compensation audit. Perhaps Mrs. Tyson and the BOE will understand why they should have authorized an up-to-date Compensation audit last spring conducted by an independent accounting firm with no ties to the school system administration or the BOE.

Comparing the DCSS 2010 numbers of certified personnel to other Atlanta metro area systems, we have a lower Teacher to Staff ratio than any other metro system with the exception of Atlanta Public Schools, a system that is arguably not a model of fiscal responsibility. In other words, DCSS’s 4:1 Teacher to Staff ratio means that for every five DCSS teachers, we have one employee who is certified to teach, but does not do so.

In simpler terms, 20% of our personnel certified to teach do not instruct a single student.

Look at this comparison of DCSS with the other metro systems (be sure to click on the Personnel and Fiscal tab):

DeKalb Schools:
A. Enrollment: 96,678
B. Fulltime administrators: 518
C. Fulltime Support Personnel: 911
D. Fulltime Teachers: 6,374
E. Staff to Teacher Ratio: 4:1

Gwinnett Schools:

A. Enrollment: 158,438
B. Fulltime administrators: 644
C. Fulltime Support Personnel: 674
D. Fulltime Teachers: 10,484
E. Staff to Teacher Ratio: 8:1

Fulton Schools:
A. Enrollment: 88,446
B. Fulltime administrators: 370
C. Fulltime Support Personnel: 553
D. Fulltime Teachers: 5,919
E. Staff to Teacher Ratio: 6:1

Cobb Schools:
A. Enrollment: 106,574
B. Fulltime administrators: 411
C. Fulltime Support Personnel: 757
D. Fulltime Teachers: 7,773
E. Staff to Teacher Ratio: 6:1

Clayton Schools:
A. Enrollment: 49,381
B. Fulltime administrators: 282
C. Fulltime Support Personnel: 272
D. Fulltime Teachers: 3,565
E. Staff to Teacher Ratio: 6:1

Atlanta Public Schools:
A. Enrollment: 47,944
B. Fulltime administrators: 470
C. Fulltime Support Personnel: 364
D. Fulltime Teachers: 3,728
E. Staff to Teacher Ratio: 4:1

What happens when an organization like DCSS has “Too Many Chiefs and Not Enough Indians?”

The result of directing a disproportionate percent of our certified admin and support personnel into non-teaching positions has been and will continue to be detrimental for DCSS students in terms of student achievement, the ONLY reason for our school system to exist. Until Mrs. Tyson and the BOE address this situation, our students’ achievement will continue to be the lowest in metro Atlanta.

(Source: the Governor’s Office of Student Achievement web pages – links provided in this article – click on the Personnel and Fiscal tab)

206 comments:

«Oldest   ‹Older   201 – 206 of 206
Passionate... said...

Mrs. Simmons, a school based instructional coach at Dresden has stepped it up since January. She currently serves students in kindergarten, second, fourth and fifth. She is teaching students. Ms. McMichael, Dresden's assigned DCSS Title I Instructional Coach is fantastic! She is able to come twice weekly and serves students, models lessons, provides professional development in both Reading and in Math. She shares DCSS information as well in her presentations. Both Mrs. Simmons and Ms. McMichael care about Dresden students achieving.

Anonymous said...

Ms. McMichael is great! She provides resources for teachers at Dresden on a regular basis, teaches model lessons, and is not intimidating. Ms. Simmons, on the other hand, is less helpful. She "serves" students only because she is made to. She insists on DIBELing students (research shows DIBELS is not valid for ESOL), she avoids showing up to classrooms on time, leaves at 2:30 each day (our workday ends at 3:00), and tries to act as an administrator - observing teachers, writing up evaluations, and then conferencing with them - unasked! All with only one year in the classroom. An instructional coach is NOT an administrator - and with only one year of teaching experience, how the heck did she get promoted??? Only in DCSS.

Anonymous said...

McMichael is not all that either! Simmons and McMichael were suppose to work with some of my low children, I have not seen them since December. Even when they came in they would come right before my kids went to specials. Spending maybe 10 minutes with the students. Their salaries would be better spent on more teachers, alleviating the huge classes we now have.

Anonymous said...

Why do so many teachers dislike the Instructional Coach program in DCSS? To be effective with teachers, Instructional Coaches must gain the teachers' respect. It is imperative that the teachers feel the Instructional Coach is improving the instruction of his/her students. This is not happening in DeKalb which results in a colossal waste of taxpayer money. Taxpayers are spending around $10,000,000 for 90+ Instructional Coaches, and I hear they are about to add more. This concept works well in other systems. Why is it working so poorly in DCSS? It seems we're throwing good money after bad. There is something very wrong with the Office of School Improvement when it runs a program so poorly that costs so much and gives us so little in the way of ROI.

This program is worthy of a post all on its own so "Watchers" can have a discussion on this most important subject. If anyone wants to write up the post, email it to Cerebration at:

reparteeforfun@gmail.com

Anonymous said...

@ 8:21

Ms. Simmons started out with a Non-renewable certificate (Non-Renewable certificates may be issued at the request of a school system to individuals who have met specific certification requirements but do not qualify for Clear Renewable certification) in 2002 until 2005. She got a Clear Renewable certificate in 2005 and her Reading certification in 2008. It appears as a Reading First Coach, she got her degree and after a year, she became a coach. So you're right. She has scant experience in teaching reading.

https://www.gapsc.com/Certification/Lookup/look_up.aspx

and by type in Adrienne Simmons

Anonymous said...

Ms. McMichael is a Title 1 Instructional Coach. Looking at internet connections, it appears her mom is Brenda McMichael, former Assistant Director of the Department of School Improvement directly under Audria Berry. Who hires the Instructional Coaches? The Office of School Improvement of course. It's this kind of thing that upsets teachers and taxpayers.

«Oldest ‹Older   201 – 206 of 206   Newer› Newest»