There's a Hole in My Bucket, Dear Liza

There's a hole in my bucket, dear Liza, dear Liza,

There's a hole in my bucket, dear Liza, a hole.

Then fix it, dear Henry, dear Henry, dear Henry,

Then fix it, dear Henry, dear Henry, fix it.

My, oh my! What a wonderfully wet week we've had children! Not only did we have four Board members running up the white flag on the superintendent search and the "leakiness" of their peers, we got a view of the fountain of youth that is the next SPLOST IV scope.

The drama of the reveal was breathtaking! What would the fourth down payment on our fantasy trip to a renewed capital plant look like? A lot like the last three is the answer. True, there are a few lucky communities with replacement, neighborhood-scale schools and there's the laundry list of other items that seemed to touch every school in the district.

Wow! Not ...

Besides Nancy Jester's brave 'no' vote, the only part of the entire proceeding that stuck in my head was a pesky image of a bucket full of holes like the one above. The "capital needs" were described as "$3 billion" and the SPLOST IV revenue target of $475 million. I thought, "Wow, that leaves $2.5 billion in unmet needs."

Then I remembered what we had been told by DCSS in past years whenever I asked where Cross Keys' auditorium was in plan: "Kim, we have over $2 billion in needs and only $500 million in SPLOST dollars - no one is getting everything they need and we are spreading it thin." Putting aside the fact that many are, in fact, getting "everything they need," I have been surprised that no one seems to be noticing the SPLOST death spiral we are in as taxpayers.

There are a lot of holes in our capital bucket and the money is running out those holes faster than we can fix them apparently. What are the holes? Too many schools and sites to maintain - way too many properties.

Let me over-simplify this so I can understand it ...

Five or six years ago we had $2 billion in needs. In the ensuing five years, we spent $500 million against this need. This should leave somewhere in the neighborhood of $1.5 billion in need, right? Not according to DCSS this week.

The current line is that we now have $3 billion in identified needs and $475 million to spend in SPLOST IV. What?! Our need more than doubled from $1.5 billion? What's going to happen in SPLOST V? We'll spend $500 million in SPLOST IV against the $3 billion in need leaving $2.5 billion which, if the next period is like the last period, will double to $5 billion in need??

Is our leadership blind or irresponsible or both? That this kind of dynamic can be allowed to persist without addressing the fundamental issue is a massive failure of fiduciary responsibility.

SPLOST has become for taxpayers like one of my favorite movies, "Ground Hog Day," where the protagonist is trapped in the same day over and over again. He says, "Well, what if there is no tomorrow? There wasn't one today." That is how I feel about the current "2020 Vision" and SPLOST IV - there is no tomorrow in these plans today.

When will the madness stop? Unlike for Bill Murray's character, I am afraid not soon for DeKalb taxpayers, not soon ...

FOUND! DCSS Has The Money for Education Excellence

Folks, it is time to stop giving DCSS leaders and the BOE the benefit of the doubt.

They are flat-out “raiding the cookie jar” – taking what they can from us and from our children.

Their chutzpah is amazing! This is not happening by accident – and they clearly feel no shame.

DeKalb is a majority Black county. DCSS is a majority Black school system run by majority Black administrators and a majority Black BOE. This is a Black-on-Black outrage, if not an outright crime. Disadvantaged children in DeKalb County, most of whom are Black, have no chance. As long as DCSS leaders, the BOE and their friends-and-family “get theirs” they simply do not care what happens to the children.

I have spent nights and weekends pouring over DCSS employee payroll information from 2008, 2009 and 2010. While the state is to be commended for putting this information online, a lot of work was required to get it to a point where the data can be sorted and analyzed:

• An online document with nearly 17,000 rows had to be downloaded to a CSV document, then converted to an Excel spreadsheet.
• All of the dollar figures had to be converted from CSV fields that read-as-text to Excel fields that read-as-currency using a separate text editor. Not as easy as it sounds!
• Significant, multiple data entry errors originating in the online information had to be corrected in order to properly sort and analyze the data.

This is an unfinished project. But, I want to share with you what I know so far, based on the 2010 payroll as published on Open.Georgia.gov. I have not had time to go to this level of detail for 2008 and 2009.

Mission Critical

Administrators, Teachers and Other Professionals – $453,840,260

9,227 school-based professionals* who have direct contact with students.

Support Staff – $12,912,876

334 school-based Support Staff **(who keep the schools running) for the 9,227 professionals (above) and DCSS’ 96,000+ students. These support staff are paid as secretaries/clerks when in reality many are trained professionals in their fields and should be paid as such.

*(This does not include vocational/nursing assistant/health tech instructors and administrators or psycho-ed personnel.)
** (This does not include custodial staff because it was impossible to determine how many were school-based.)


NOT Contributing to Mission

Central Office Clerical – $12,889,567

376 Central Office Secretaries/Clerks supporting 39 Superintendent/Deputy/Associate/Assistant Superintendents/Directors and their overstuffed departments. This includes:

• Betty Guthrie ($74,100), secretary and gatekeeper to HR Czar Jamie Wilson ($166,008) who refuses to publish his business number.
• Cointa Moody, now indicted on RICO charges, who made $79,546 as Pat Pope’s secretary – that was more than the Superintendent’s secretary! This begs the question – which arises again and again and again – what did Pat Pope and possibly others have on Crawford Lewis?

Other Central Office Secretaries/Clerks

• 6 making more than $71,000+ (including Frankie Freeman)
• 2 making more than $60,000
• 17 making more than $50,000
• 6 making nearly $49,000

Miscellaneous Activities $4,414,673

145 people. Doing what?

• Interesting, familiar names on this list. Are they related to anyone we know? It’s hard to tell because DCSS and the BOE will not reveal the names of family members on the payroll.
• Of the 145 here, nearly 33% received more than $50,000 from DCSS in 2010; 41% received “salary-sized” payments.
• Five received more than $100,000, including Ralph Simpson who topped the list at $122,928!

Outsource to Gain Performance and Savings:

Finance – $2,133,111

27 Business Services personnel, including 7 auditors who aren’t, really.

• Heading up this department is Marcus Turk ($166,008), the guy who told Crawford Lewis “no” to using his DCSS P-card (credit card) illegally and inappropriately – and then Turk approved paying the bills, anyhow.
• Turk had to know about Lewis’ illegal activities that eventually earned him a RICO indictment.
• No Open Checkbook as long as Turk handles the money.

Human Resources – $2,483,990

35 HR personnel.

• This includes DCSS retiree Robert Tucker ($57,168) who does Ronald Ramsey’s ($114,057) “job” three months (January, February, March) of each year while Ramsey busies himself with commendations, recognitions, condolences and congratulations (32 in 2011) in the legislature as a state senator ($16,007). Of the 16 mostly forgettable bills Ramsey co-sponsored in 2011, only one made it to the Governor for his signature.
• Tucker also is eligible to collect a pension from Georgia’s Teacher’s Retirement System.
• Apparently, Tucker is one of many DCSS retirees who retire and are brought right back as “contractors” making a full-time salary in addition to being eligible to collect a pension from TRS.

Security and School Safety – $9,812,575
 
213 Security Personnel.

• This massive group of school-based security officers, along with administrative detectives, and their two overpaid directors ($214,752) have not been able to prevent thefts – most of which appear to be “inside” jobs. Nor have they recovered hundreds of stolen laptops.
• What is the dollar value of all the theft from DCSS in 2010 and so far in 2011?
• Why have none of the thieves been brought to justice? At least one was caught red-handed.
• This cost does NOT include the fuel and maintenance costs for the cars these folks are given to drive to and from work.

Technology Services – $13,337,208

246 Technology Services personnel.

• These are the people who are unable to bring DCSS into the 21^st Century of technology and who already outsource even the basics.
• Why isn’t DCSS using the sophisticated, free, open source Open Office software? It’s FREE, completely compatible with Microsoft Office, comes without the bloatware that must be removed from Office and works better in many ways.

Food Service – $18,090,861

1009 Food Service personnel.

• There are 8 – count ‘em – 8! – food service administrators; 4 make more than $70,000 including Joyce Wimberly who makes $110,187.
• Do your kids eat the food – or is there a lot of waste? Outsource for tasty, nutritious food your kids will eat – for lower cost and less waste.

Transportation – $31,926,958

1198 Transportation personnel.

• Would an expense this size be necessary with smaller neighborhood schools?
• DCSS also has other options under AYP instead of transferring students across the county and providing bus transportation for that crisscrossing.
• The budget for magnet transportation (no longer legally required) was saved by the BOE -- instead of saving parapros at neighborhood schools.
• Transportation to Fernbank’s Scientific Tools & Techniques science program for 160 freshman delivered from their homes to Fernbank and then from Fernbank to their home schools costs a fortune.
• NOT included in the above costs are the constantly rising costs for fuel and maintenance.
• Does DCSS also pay mileage costs or MARTA costs for transferring students who select that as their transportation option? How much additional does that cost?

NOTE: The payroll costs shown above do NOT include the cost of benefits that DCSS also must pay.

Did You Know:

Did you know that DCSS 2010 revenues were approximately 3% more than expenditures for teachers and paraprofessionals? That is actually a lot of money! Did you know that DCSS spent only 40.8% of its funding for teachers and paraprofessionals? Teachers and paraprofessionals are Mission Critical!

DCSS has a staggering number of substitute teachers – 1,450! – with a total payroll of $9,161,313!

We could dismiss at least half of the Central Office clerical staff, never miss them, and gain nearly $6.5 million for education. (In the business world, there are very few secretaries anymore. With the advent of computers, most managers have easily been able to type their own communications and answer their own mail for years now. Most can also answer their own phones and check voice mail.)

We could dismiss all who are paid for “Miscellaneous Activities,” never miss them and whatever it is they do, and gain nearly $4.5 million for education. 

We could dismiss ALL of Crawford Lewis’ inner circle, never miss them and gain more than $3.6 million for education. 

What if we could outsource Finance, Human Resources, Security, Technology Services, Food Service and Transportation (greatly scaled down) for 80% - 90% of the 2010 personnel cost for these areas? We would have an additional $7.7 million – $15.5 million to spend on educating our children well. DCSS could give disadvantaged children the education they deserve to have a decent life. DCSS could give ALL DeKalb children the education they deserve to become productive and contributing citizens.

That’s an annual windfall of $22.3 million – $30.1 million!

And, folks, ALL of these savings are just from right-sizing payroll!

Without the Open Checkbook we have repeatedly called for, we cannot even begin to identify the millions more dollars in legal costs and other questionable payments buried deep within the budget. Yet.

Has Tom Bowen lost his mind?

Prepare for flameout.

In addition to setting agendas and running board meetings, chairpersons also have the responsibility of appointing committees and their chairs. Tom Bowen, recently voted as Chairman of the DeKalb County School Board for a second term, is about to appoint his committee chairs. Bowen has recommended the following members to the Budget, Finance and Facilities Committee.

Jay Cunningham, Gene Walker, Donna Edler and Don McChesney.

And Jay will be the chair.

I kid you not.

Jay Cunningham. The very same Jay Cunningham who pled guilty to stealing money (over $12,000) while working as a manager at McDonald’s.
http://www.ajc.com/news/dekalb/dekalb-school-officials-record-690212.html

And his ethics were called into question for selling pizza to schools.
http://www.ajc.com/news/dekalb/table-appears-set-for-558491.html

For more on Jay’s financial woes, read this article at the Champion News online.

"Financial problems plague school board member"
http://www.championnewspaper.com/news/articles/780financial-problems-plague-school-board-member-780.html

According to court records, board member Jesse “Jay” Cunningham has at least 15 open court cases against him—most of which involve payroll garnishments to pay creditors. Of the cases, four were filed between 2002 and 2007, five in 2008, one in 2009 and five last year. In addition, there are seven cases involving Cunningham that are listed as “closed.”



The garnishments in the open cases exceed $173,000. Records show that his board member check has been garnished by Ford Motor Credit in seven of the open cases. As a board member, Cunningham is paid $23,400 annually.



Other organizations bringing garnishments against Cunningham last year include Delek US Holdings and Mapco Express. Delek is the parent company of Mapco Express, a convenience store. Money from these checks has gone to pay garnishments by Georgia Receivables, a collection agency attempting to settle a debt from Nice Cars Inc.

In addition, it appears that Jay has a slight problem controlling his temper.
http://www.ajc.com/news/dekalb/dekalb-school-officials-record-690212.html

In the more recent allegations, Cunningham was accused in 2008 by a male friend of his wife of punching the man in the head outside a church on one occasion and of pulling a gun on the man on another occasion. In a separate allegation, a DeKalb school parent told police she believed Cunningham threatened her at a meeting of cheerleading boosters in 2009. Police wrote reports on all three of the alleged incidents — the reports were obtained by the AJC — but Cunningham was not charged in any of them.

And what about Gene Walker? Yes, this is the same Gene Walker who took a $20,000 campaign donation from the Sembler Corporation when running for school board, while also serving on the DeKalb Development Authority, the same Authority that Sembler was requesting over $50 million in tax credits, 60% of which come from the school taxes and would need to be confirmed by the school board. Worse, Walker failed to report the donation until after he won the election.
http://www.ajc.com/news/georgia-politics-elections/officials-failing-to-disclose-320745.html

DeKalb County school board member Gene Walker, for example, raised about $20,000 in 2008 from campaign donors associated with the Sembler Co. as it sought a multimillion-dollar tax break from another county board that Walker chaired. Walker disclosed those donations two days after winning the school board seat.

Yes, the same Gene Walker who while serving as a state senator, was charged with sexual harassment of an employee, a charge that the state settled for $190,000. That’s $190,000 of the people's money.
http://www.accessnorthga.com/detail.php?n=165732

The sexual harassment lawsuit pending against state parole board member Gene Walker isn't the first time he's been named in such a case. The Associated Press has learned that the state quietly paid $190,000 a dozen years ago to settle the first lawsuit in which Walker was accused of sexually harassing a secretary.

Tom Bowen, in appointing people with such hideous financial records to a finance committee has obviously lost his ability to protect the interests of the DeKalb County School System. Could it be time for a recall? Enough is quite enough.

PROPOSED STANDING COMMITTEE ASSIGNMENTS
https://eboard.eboardsolutions.com/meetings/viewmeetingOrder.aspx?S=4054&MID=18321

Budget, Finance and Facilities
[C] Mr. Jesse ‘Jay’ Cunningham
Ms. Donna G. Edler
Mr. Donald E. McChesney
Dr. Eugene P. Walker

Business, Community and Government Relations
[C] Ms. Sarah Copelin-Wood
Ms. Nancy T. Jester
Mr. Jesse ‘Jay’ Cunningham
Dr. Pamela A. Speaks

Instruction and Board Policy
[C] Dr. Pamela A. Speaks
Ms. Sarah Copelin-Wood
Ms. Nancy T. Jester
Mr. Donald E. McChesney

The vote on the committee assignments will be tomorrow at 11 am.

DCSS as Mrs. Potato Head?

Yes, it is time to break out my tired, old analogy for DCSS "Central Office" once again. This time, I'm featuring Mrs. Potato Head due to Title 9 considerations and because we have a new, interim Superintendent who is also of the "fairer sex."

Additionally, the word on the street was that there has been some quiet house-cleaning going on since she took office. With some diligent and simple key performance indicator analysis, we should be able to see the impact to the "bottom line" each year. Let's hope Mrs. Potato Head is helping Mr. Potato Head drop a few pounds in all the right places!

As I did last year, I downloaded the DCSS salaries reported by State of Georgia "Transparency in Government" web site to attempt to come up with a "Central Office-to-School House" ratio based on the job titles. Even with the help of Ella Smith, life-long public educator, this was a daunting task due the number and vagueness of the DCSS titles.

The good news this year is that the number of reported titles has fallen to 149 from 181 and I have devised a method for all readers of this blog to help with the accuracy of job titles classification as "Central Office" or "In School." For me, anyone who does not actually work in a school house has to be lumped into "Central Office." Sorry bus drivers and other providers of essential services - still not "In School!"

I have posted the spreadsheet as a Google Doc online and notified the editors of this blog how they can update the job title classifications to help us get an more accurate picture. The benchmark we documented for 2008 salaries was 24.987% of salaries went to "Central Office" titles and we'll see what we get this year for 2009 in a team effort.

If you want to participate in the review of job title classifications, simply download this spreadsheet (required MS Excel 97 or later or OpenOffice Calc) and post job title classification changes in the comments of this post. With all the teachers and other employees of DCSS lurking here, I hope this will give us a clear picture of which job titles are actually in school houses versus elsewhere.

You will also find in the spreadsheet workbook a third tab that contains three years of DCSS summary expenditures from the Georgia DOE. This is data that pscexb pointed out last year as available and I wanted to bring it back updated to the table for discussion. While I do see that "General Administration" has dropped during the past year, I also see a drop in instructional spending - less than ideal.


I would love to keep seeing General Administrative costs go down while maintaining instructional spending. We'll also need to watch the Maintenance Operations expense to see if it can be reduced. After all, as more newly renovated or constructed buildings come online I would hope our maintenance expenses would take a downturn. And, if our BOE and Superintendent get serious about consolidation and re-districting, we should see these maintenance expenses decline for many years to come as our Byzantine collection of properties declines.

I think that watching the numbers is something that this blog can do annually. Personally, I think DCSS should be posting this type of management analysis as  part of their governance and fiduciary responsibility. It isn't that hard to come up with a few key performance indicators and disseminate them. For now, take a look at the job titles in these reports and post to the comments when you spot a job title you know to be "In School" and I'll update the spreadsheet.

When were done with our exercise in a few days, I'll update this post with the completed data and a ratio. Let's make this an annual Christmas tradition as our gift to DeKalb County residents. Merry Christmas!

Monopoly® Money?

The DeKalb County School System Board of Education must think they are spending Monopoly® money.

Last night’s BOE meeting, which started after 6 PM -- almost 10 minutes late -- and adjourned before 7 PM, spent more than $4 million of your money – taxpayers’ dollars – in less time than they spent on recognitions and photo ops at the beginning of the session. In less than a minute, the BOE quickly and unanimously signed off on the “Consent Agenda.” No discussion. That accounted for approximately $3.7 million ($3,791,429). Earlier, in less than five minutes, the BOE did the same thing with a $262,000 annual fee for more PR assistance from Cohn & Wolfe.

Whatever happened to Jeff Dickerson and the contract DCSS had with him? I must have missed something.

Jim Redovian was the only BOE member to openly admit that he had not seen the BOE packet of information sent out on Friday, October 8 (for a Monday October 11 meeting). I am betting he was not the only one who had not seen it, though. Most boards of large corporations are given the courtesy of receiving a packet of board agenda-related information – especially budget information -- at least a week prior to the actual meeting. Why is that not happening in DCSS with a $1.2 BILLION budget and an announced $50 million shortfall for 2011-2012?

Regarding the Consent Agenda, both the BOE and Tony Hunter, executive director of MIS/IT were informed via e-mail (sent out Sunday and waiting on them Monday morning) that there was a $$$ error in the Excel spreadsheets supplied with Consent Agenda Item #18. Could that be because MIS/IT personnel do not know how to use Excel formulas to do the calculations? The agenda item was approved anyhow – with the error uncorrected. Sorry, SWD.

Wouldn’t you really like to know why MIS/IT is paying $600 each for 75 Dell Netbooks with undisclosed specs when you can walk into any office supply store and get a single netbook for less than $300? Actually, Dell’s most expensive netbook is available online directly from Dell – single netbook purchase; no discounts – for less than $600.

A similar e-mail was sent to Felicia Mayfield and the BOE at the same time concerning the need to spend $100,000 more on contract occupational and physical therapists (Consent Agenda Items #22 and #23) when DCSS already has the following on staff (according to 2009 salaries shown on Open.Georgia.gov):

• 8 physical therapists at a cost exceeding $600,000 -- not including benefits.
• 28 occupational therapists at a cost exceeding $1.7 million -- not including benefits.

How can DCSS propose to provide more in student services when DCSS cannot even confirm that the students in our schools are enrolled legally? Ron Ramsey, I am talking to you.

For a copy of the e-mails sent to Felicia Mayfield and Tony Hunter, as well as Mayfield’s answer – Hunter did not bother to answer – please e-mail me at shspruill@gmail.com. BTW – the BOE members were all copied on these e-mails, as well. To date, no response.

Money is tight and the BOE members should be openly evaluating and weighing each expense very carefully. They need to know, “Is it necessary?” “Why?” “Is there an alternative?” What is it?” or “Why not?” The staff answers to those questions must be backed up with clear and compelling documentation.

And in the case of additional personnel expense (including “contract” personnel), the BOE must also ask, “Can this be done by current staff?” “If not, why not?”

The BOE had no problem increasing class sizes for teachers and dumping more useless paperwork on them, thereby lengthening their workdays and increasing the demands on their time – putting positive educational outcomes at risk.

Education is DCSS’s only business. But, the way they protect central office personnel and other non-classroom personnel makes it very clear that, as far as DCSS and the BOE are concerned, education is simply an afterthought.

If eduKALB endorses even one (1) incumbent, eduKALB’s credibility is shot and their agenda is suspect.

Monopoly®, anyone? Pick your playing piece and throw the dice!

Back to the "List of Distractions"

Hurrah! We checked a biggie off of our "list of distractions" preventing our board from focusing on educating our children!  Dr. Lewis is gone.

The AJC posted a good article in today's paper outlining some of the work yet to be done - all before we can focus on the classroom. One quote caught my eye:

Lewis, who appeared relieved to walk away after 33 years of working for DeKalb schools, said the district needs someone focused on the school system and not the ongoing criminal investigation.

“I believe the board needs a sitting superintendent that will be on site every day,” he said. “My attention is devoted to the other action going on with the district attorney’s office and of course, we are cooperating.”

Even without him at the helm, the results of the criminal investigation still could have a huge impact on the 101,000-student school system.

I have to ask, "Why - oh why - did it come down to Lewis basically excusing himself? Is our board so very weak that they could not come to this conclusion, dismiss him and make the above statement themselves? It is shocking to me that they allowed this situation to fester and stew until the very person causing the discordance basically was the one to say, "Gee guys, I'd better leave - you know, my being under a criminal investigation and on "paid leave" probably isn't the best thing for the system." My oh my - why didn't anyone on the board think of that?

Beyond that head-shaking disappointment, we now have to trust our board to turn their attention to the rest of the big items on their "to-do" list: budget cuts (at least $115 million in cuts!), the continuance of our major construction projects, the multi-million dollar lawsuit against Heery-Mitchell which continues to be delayed, the criminal investigation into Pat Pope, as well as the one into Dr. Lewis (which apparently taxpayers have already paid our limit of $100,000 for his defense!), and the statewide investigation into cheating.

Tom Bowen is quoted in the article as saying, "“We have some big issues out there with the DA’s investigation and the Heery litigation,” Bowen said. “As for day-to-day operations, we’ve done an excellent job and we want to continue that way.”"

I disagree with Tom. The board has done very little that would be deemed an "exellent job in day-to-day operations"—teachers, principals, bus drivers, librarians, custodians, cafeteria and other staff, working under incredible, unyielding stress and distraction are the ones struggling to maintain as normal environment as possible for our children—even as their own jobs hang in the balance. Tom should have given credit where credit was due.

We are really going to have to watch carefully in the next few months.

=====
BTW - we do not have 101,000 students. The number reported to the state on the October 2009 Official FTE count for DeKalb was 97,958, however, the State website currently shows DeKalb with 96,907 students.

Check out these numbers yourselves - at the DOE Reporting Site and the DOE system description site. However, if we suddenly increased by 3042 students, and they are not aware of this at the state, we are losing some serious state funding.

The Empire Strikes Back?

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.

DeKalb teachers' pay could decrease 6.25 percent

From Today's AJC

DeKalb County teachers could see their pay decrease as much as 6.25 percent next school year.

The school board voted unanimously Friday morning to issue about 8,000 contracts to teachers, principals and other certified staff for next school year with the option of a pay reduction or furlough days. The pay cut is capped at 6.25 percent.

DeKalb schools must cut at least $88 million from its budget for next year. The board is scheduled to approve the budget in May, but teacher contracts must be issued before April 15.

“This does not bind the board to take any particular action, it just binds the board to leave the door open,” board chairman Tom Bowen said.

Interestingly, the AJC is also reporting this:

About a quarter of DeKalb County’s residents weren’t counted in the last census, causing the county to lose about $41 million in federal funding, County Commissioner Connie Stokes announced Wednesday.

That felt like the old one-two punch!

Back to the topic of the block

Changing from the block to a 7-period day is one of the current ideas batted about as a cost-saver. Personally, I think it is probably a great idea, and actually would save money, however, there are some details in the current proposal that need to be addressed - details that would effect teacher morale and student outcomes.

Currently, at the block schools, teachers teach three long classes and have one long planning period. At the current 7-period day schools, teachers teach 5 short classes and have 2 short planning periods. Block teachers have a maximum of 102 students (34 per class) and 7-period teachers have a maximum of 170 students.

Apparently, Crawford Lewis was unaware until recently that at most of the high schools on the 7-period day, teachers "only" teach 5 out of 7 periods. His recommendation to the board is that all teachers at 7-period day schools will now teach 6 periods a day next year. This will allow them to cut staff by about 10 teachers per school at the schools currently on the 7PD.

I don't even know where to start to explain how damaging this move would be. This means that 7-period-per-day teachers would then have a maximum of 204 students every day and they will have only 50 minutes per day to plan for and grade work from all of those children. Currently teachers do their best to give the 140 students they see every day the best education that they possibly can within the already tight constraints of the school day. Crawford Lewis apparently thinks that "teaching" for 71% of the day is not enough -- but it's not about the amount of time teachers spend at the front of the classroom, it's about sheer number of students for whom they have to prepare and grade.

Unfortunately, I am very worried that these teachers will not be able to maintain the same level of quality that they do now if they lose 50 minutes per day of planning and gain 34 more students next year. For example, for an English teacher, the sheer volume makes the prospect of grading that many essays simply impossible. With 204 students, if a teacher spends five minutes grading each student's essay, it will take 17 hours to grade each set of essays assigned.

Further, if teachers on the 7PD answer the call and work themselves into the ground next year (for 5% less pay!), and students continue to do well on standardized tests, the BOE will have absolutely no incentive to put schedules back to the way they were, even after our budget crisis passes. I am extremely apprehensive about the possibility of maintaining test scores though -- morale is beyond low, and if an entire faculty is put on what used to be considered an "extended day" schedule and are paid less for doing it, I can't imagine that many teachers will continue to bring the same level of commitment to all of their classes.

I think this is a crisis, not only for the faculty members but also for the children enrolled in all of our 7-period day high schools. Believe me when I tell you that the feeling among these is that of despair. The board needs to step in and create a policy regarding the 7-period day. They need to add the wording that teachers on this schedule will teach 5 periods and use the remaining 2 periods for planning and conferences. Wording is everything.

OK - so what happened?

I had some emergency work to do - and couldn't get to the budget meeting tonight. Please report what you heard and saw - they didn't televise it - so you guys are the official reporters! Did they get their 'asses whooped'???

UPDATE -- There has been a link set up to submit budget cut ideas -- send your ideas to (copy & paste the address below)
budget-suggestions@fc.dekalb.k12.ga.us

It's Deja Vu All Over Again!

Check out this report from CrossRoads News on the bloat in the central office of the school system - then do a double-take at the date the article was written.

Downsizing necessary as school system grapples with revenue shortfalls

by Ernest Brown 07.23.08

Downsizing or rightsizing the labor force in an organization is a reality in today’s economic climate. It is not surprising that the DeKalb Board of Education requested that Superintendent Dr. Crawford Lewis review staffing levels at the Central Office.

There has always been a concern by many that our Central Office is top-heavy, hence part of the motivation for this request. Dr. Lewis unveiled his preliminary findings at a called Board meeting on June 30th.

The school interviewed several firms to help assess the staffing levels and overall performance. Evergreen Solutions LLC (www.consultevergreen.com/) was selected to perform this service. Dr. Linda Reico, president of Evergreen, co-presented their initial findings with Dr. Lewis.

Following are some of my recollections of major points discussed:

• There are approximately 1,300 employees in the Central Office. This represents approximately 10 percent of all DCSS employees.
• Salaries currently make up approximately 91 percent of the general budget. SACS suggests salaries should be between 87- 93 percent of the budget. The target set by DCSS is 86 percent.
• There is a hiring freeze for “non-essential” positions.
• Forty-two Central Office positions have been identified for possible elimination. This could result in an annual savings of $2.64 million.
• Considering an Early Retirement Incentive Option that could take effect July 1: Targeted employees would be those who have completed at least 30 years of service. It has been determined this would impact around 170 employees. If this program is approved, it could result in an annual savings of up to $2.3 million.
• Staffing levels should be further studied in the Transportation, Public Safety and Security, Public Relations, Plant Services, and Student Relations departments.
• The Athletics program is not “self-sustaining,” and an evaluation may be needed regarding the number of sports teams currently supported.
• Employee salaries and benefits need to be balanced with financial constraints. Dr. Reico mentioned that DCSS has been “generous” over the years with respect to annual increases and that may need to be reviewed.
• Determine where technology modernization and applications could reduce labor costs. Four-day work weeks should be considered during the summer months. There should be cross training of Service Center employees.
• A Compensation and Classification study is recommended. The last one was done in 2003 and these are typically valid for 5 years.
• After the presentation, board members asked questions to get a better understanding of the initial finding along with the costs for proceeding. One member noted that while staffing algorithms should help guide each school, common sense should be used based on the needs of that school.
• The number of assistant principals at each school seemed subjective to some. Another raised the question whether early retirement should be offered prior to the completion of the Performance and Management Audit.

Two studies proposed

Evergreen submitted a proposal of $475,000 for a Management and Performance Audit. It was estimated this could be completed in four to five months, hence delivered by Thanksgiving if begun during July. They also proposed a Compensation and Classification study for $350,000. This could start in December and would also last four to five months.

Both could be done for $775,000 if the Board used Evergreen, representing a savings of $50,000.

The Board was advised the Compensation and Classification study should be opened to other vendors for consideration before proceeding. Dr. Lewis committed to have a recommendation for a vendor by the August work session. The Board will vote on the Management and Performance Audit at the July 14th meeting.

Dr. Lewis began setting expectations with the Board that the entire process could take three to five years to reach the target of 86 percent. He requested consideration that the study be expanded to the entire school system, not just the Central office.

Dr. Lewis also indicated he would meet with CFO Marcus Turk regarding how the audits would be funded and would present that to the Board.

Hiring an outside firm to help with this process is the right thing to do because reduction-in-force efforts are occasionally met with some litigation. Having proper documentation along with making these decisions based on industry best practices and standards would reduce that likelihood.

With possible cuts to the labor force, expectations should be set with stakeholders that there could be cuts in service. If everyone understands and accepts this possibility, it should be easier to deal with the outcome of this process.

Ernest Brown lives in Lithonia. © crossroadsnews.com 2008

So, what's the scoop with the budget?

The AJC is reporting that Governor Perdue plans further cuts to the state budget which will definitely effect our schools and teachers. To quote, "Gov. Sonny Perdue just released his budget proposals for the remainder of the current fiscal year and the 12 months starting July 1. The headline: pain.Public K-12 education faces an additional 3 percent cut in the current fiscal 2010 budget, while most all other state agencies must find 8 to 9 percent to cut before June 30. All state employees, including teachers, must take three furlough days before June 30."

As Greenie pointed out, the $56 million budget cut to DeKalb schools that we already know about is the amount the state is cutting from the annual allocation. Added to more than $100 million already cut in past 2-3 years. Local taxes will also be lost based on devaluation of property.the school tax portion of the property tax bill is separate from the "county operations" part of the bill for which Ellis wants to increase the mil rate.

School board does not anticipate increasing the mil rate on the school tax part of property bills (which is approximately 70% of your total property tax bill) so, DCSS WILL have another budget cut as well - related to whatever decrease occurs due to lower property values.

Add to this, Governor Perdue's plan to implement merit pay for teachers by 2014 and we seem to be relatively uncertain as to the future of our schools and our ability to attract and retain quality teachers.

Crawford Lewis Demands a Higher Salary (or to paraphrase "Hey BOE, I want Mine...Now!")

This is beyond comprehension, beyond belief. No STEP increases for teachers, bus drivers get a 29% pay cut, and facilities like Cross Keys are literally falling apart but Superintendent Crawford Lewis says about his salary: '“I am going backwards,” Lewis said Wednesday. “I can’t continue doing this. I am not a rookie anymore.”.

He intentionally forgets to mention that DCSS enrollment has shrunk since he's been superintendent (and that there would be between 1,000 to 2,000 less DCSS students is he and Ron Ramsey ever seriously investigated residency).

Simply unbelievable. He has worked for DCSS for 36 years, will retire with an awesome pension, and has been part of the DCSS decision-making inner circle for much of that time. He has substantially increased the amount of non-classroom related administrators, almost all of whom make well over $100,o00 per year. All that is asked for of these administrators is their blind loyalty to him, not our student bobdy.

This is equally offensive as his ridiculous memo supporting convicted criminal.CRCT test cheater James Berry and the soon to be convicted asst. principal, the low point of his tenure as superintendent.

Check out this article at CrossRoads News.

Earlier this year when DeKalb Schools’ highest paid employees – those making more than $100,000 a year – took a two percent pay cut, Superintendent Crawford Lewis voluntarily took a 2 percent cut even though his contract didn’t require it.

When teachers lost their step increase, Lewis gave up his $10,000 cost of living increase that should have kicked in July 1; and when he met his goals and earned a $22,000 bonus, he only took half of it.

“I felt that if the people I lead have to give up something, let me demonstrate my leadership by joining them,” Lewis said.

The DeKalb School Board, which employs Lewis, is now negotiating his contract amidst shrinking revenues and lots of belt-tightening brought on the economic recession.

At its Dec. 7 meeting, David Schutten, president of the teacher’s union, Organization of DeKalb Educators, signaled to the board that there would be rumblings in the ranks if board members increased Lewis’s pay or benefits while teachers and bus drivers are preparing for more cuts.

“It would send a terrible message to everybody in this county,” he said. “This would create a crisis of confidence beyond anything we have ever seen in the school system.” Schutten said people are under stress and morale is at an all-time low.

“I hope that you are acting in good faith and have the best interest of all employees,” he said. “Think about the message you are sending to the people on the front lines in the school system that have taken cut after cut after cut and are getting ready to take more cuts.”

Lewis, who completed his fifth year as superintendent in October, leads the state’s third-largest school district, behind Gwinnett and Cobb counties.

Board members and Lewis say that he voluntarily gave up $29,000 in pay and bonuses in the last two years out of solidarity with employees and teachers who had to take salary reductions.

When those reductions are factored in, Lewis’ $255,924 package of pay and travel benefits, is really $226,924, which moves him from the third highest paid superientendent to sixth place behind Fulton County’s Cynthia Low, who manages a district with 89,000 students.

Even Clayton County’s superintendent, Edmond Heatley, who has been on the job for five months managing a district that is less than half the size of DeKalb’s makes more – $3,676 – more than Lewis when both men’s package of pay and travel benefits are compared.

“I am going backwards,” Lewis said Wednesday. “I can’t continue doing this. I am not a rookie anymore.”

Board members who completed Lewis’s annual evaluation in October have been meeting behind closed doors about his contract.

Tom Bowen, the board’s chairman, said they should have 2010 goals for Lewis finalized by the end of the month or by January, the latest.

Lewis’ contract, which was extended by a year in March without any financial incentive, now expires October 2011. Bowen said they had to extend it because it is customary for superintendents to have contracts extending 12 to 18 months out.

Lewis said that if it gets to a year and the contract is not extended, superintendents know to start job hunting.

While he had not had any contract discussions with the board, Lewis’s lawyer and board lawyers have spoken.

“They have the eight dimensions I want,” he said.

None of them includes him making less money.

“It’s not reasonable for me to start out with less,” he said. “I am a bargain for this board. I am so underpaid compared to other superintendents.”

Board members are mum on the talks and some expressed surprise at the rumors that Schutten mentioned during his comments at Monday’s board meeting.

“That’s a personnel issue,” said Sarah Copelin-Wood, who represents District 3. “I don’t understand how it gets out in the public arena.”

While she could not comment on the superintendent’s contract discussions, Copelin-Wood said she is a great proponent of the employees and teachers getting a step increase or cost of living raises.

“They have not gotten anything in two years,” she said. They deserve it. Bus drivers, cafeteria workers and custodians are the lowest paid employees in the system. I am in support of them getting their step increase or a cost of living increase.”

Dr. Eugene Walker, the District 9 Board member, said the rumors mentioned by Schutten have no merit.

“I can’t speak for any other board members, but it is inconceivable to me that we would give our superintendent a raise and our teachers have not had a step increase and we have cut bus drivers’ pay by 29 percent,” he said. “This is one board member who would not be party to it. Before we can consider any increase for the superintendent, we would have to increase those making the least amount of money first.”

District 4 board member H.Paul Womack Jr. would not say whether an increase was on the table for Lewis, but he noted that even Clayton County pays its superintendent more than DeKalb pays Lewis.

He said Lewis has performed “admirably and has done an outstanding job.”

“He has brought the school system forward on a lot of high goals,” Womack said. “If we were to lose Dr. Lewis, it would cost us $300,000 easily to replace him.”

Womack, who led a $5.2 billion a year company before he retired, said Lewis would measure up in any company in which he worked.

“Dr. Lewis is worth more than we are paying him,” Womack said. “He sets high goals and he passed every one of them. This community is damn lucky we have Dr. Lewis.”

Lewis, who worked 32 years with the school system before he became superintendent, says he would like to finish his career with DeKalb Schools but he acknowledged that he is being courted regularly by other school systems across the county.

“I believe I can make a difference,” he said, “but that doesn’t mean I am going to continue falling behind.”