A recent commenter made the following request - and I think it's a good idea. Apparently, the axes have begun to fall - and it is surprising just how many school-based employees are getting their pink slips. Please, if you feel comfortable, share with us who has been let go from your school and how that will effect education this fall. (Just share their job type and the effect it will have, no names, please.)
241 comments:
«Oldest ‹Older 201 – 241 of 241Keep in mind that 100 paras are being laid off. However, many more are going to be put into a box as they are not earned at their schools.
At our school, the brand new paras lost their jobs but ones that had a couple of years experiences were displaced.
The big question that everyone needs to be asking is how are displaced paras and teachers going to be assigned, once vacancies are filled. (For example, MLK displaces a math teacher, Redan has a vacancy that the math teacher fills.) There are going to be hundreds of displaced teachers, many displaced paras, and since half the media clerks and TSS were "saved," how will they be assigned?
I heard last night that the district-level Social Studies coordinator was non-renewed, which is a low down dirty shame. She used to be an assistant principal, and she was, hands down, the best administrator for whom I've ever worked in my career. I can't believe that DCSS let her go.
Oh, and I heard the district-level Language Arts coordinator was let go, too, but I don't know much about her. I suspect that most or all of the district-level subject area coordinators are gone.
I guess that means we won't be doing benchmark exams next year.
Hate to hear that about the Social Studies coordinator. She's a class act, someone DCSS should've fought to keep.
How in the world did they decide whom to lay off?
It is a shame that so many people think that Principals sit in their office and don't do anything. Some of the finest employees of DeKalb that I know are Principals. They work exhaustive hours to make sure that their schools have what they need to run efficiently (at least within their power). They are on call 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, and have very little autonomy of their own at their schools. They mostly answer to the whims of the county office and whatever little schemes of the week they are hatching up there. These Principals put their hearts and souls into their jobs and their students and teachers love and respect them.
Of course, some of the worst employees I know are Principals in DeKalb. These Principals operate on scare tactics and can't write or communicate effectively. They never come out of their offices and actually see how their teachers are operating in their classrooms. You can walk in a schoolhouse and within 20 minutes determine what kind of Principal is operating in the building just by walking into a few classrooms. Most of these Principals have gotten their jobs because of who they know, and when proven ineffective instead of being removed, they are transferred to another school. Yet another example of no leadership at the top.
I heard that there will be a reduced number of coordinators for the core subjects. All the core subject coordinators were laid off and they will be able to apply for the remaining open positions when they are posted.
Some of this is coming from choices the board made.
They chose to keep transportation to magnet programs (costing $2 million or more)
They chose to keep transportation for STT program at Fernbank - the cost of which has never been defined.
Our board has also tabled and tabled and tabled again, discussions on consolidating schools as well as doing another audit to find and eliminate waste.
At a time when I believe we should hunker down and cover the basics at our neighborhood schools, our board chose to spend money on special services for a small number of students.
These decisions are translating to lost jobs elsewhere.
DCSS has way too many non-teaching positions. Teachers will not miss benchmark testing. Testing every six weeks by having students bubbling in and then scanning in tests drain the classroom of instructional time. The results were not shared with teachers in a timely and efficient manner so the dat was useless for impacting student achievement. I hope many of these coordinators can interview to teach in regular education classrooms. Adequately staffing reasonably sized regular education classrooms with competent teachers is the most important academic component for students. The cost of 1 Instructional Supervisor would provide 2 classroom teachers. We have 62 of thaw individuals alone. This is one area that job functions need to be consolidated. It would be great for students if this Social Studies coordinator brought her skills to a classroom in a school that has a difficult time with the Social Studies EOCT. This is a tough area for many of our students
I think you're correct about the District-level K-12 subject area coordinators being gone - the District IB coordinator was also let go.
What criteria they used, I don't know. It would seem as if letting coordinators go would have a significant effect on instruction. Maybe there is something I'm missing.
It does seeem as though an area coordinator might be able to benefit more children than sacred magnet transportation....... Go figure... I am sickened by the board decisions and their manipulative behaviors. It ends up short changing more kids while they play political games to try and look like they are defending their "turf"
Anon - you summed it up perfectly -
Adequately staffing reasonably sized regular education classrooms with competent teachers is the most important academic component for students.
I spoke to a very good coordinator today, who lost her job. She really tried to provide information to the schools. The coordinators in the Area Offices were not touched. If people understood the process, I believe that they would feel better. How was it determined that certain jobs would be good, but the same level of jobs in another department would not be cut?
Does anyone know if Pat Pope's secretary was let go or reassigned? If not, why does Ms. Pope need a secretary who is paid $90,000+? Think about it. This particular secretary's salary is equivalent to the salary of FOUR paraprofessionals or media clerks. Outrageous, indeed.
Each of the selections for furlough days next year requires us to have fewer pre planning days. Even if you select all the other choices given, it will still require that we have less pre planning days. I hope this means that we will not have to have any county meetings. There is also a suggestion to do away with the post planning day. I know it it hard to believe, but I can remember the time that everyone wanted to work in DeKalb County. School really needs to end. Things cannot get much worse. The layoffs have hurt so many people, especially because the majority of the people are people not making a great deal of money but do have contact with the students.
Please, please, please this is not for any ugly comments to be added. I mean this very sincerly. Were there any transportation cuts? Dean Robinson worked in Special Needs Transportation and did an excellent job. During this school year, he just disappeared. That seems to be the way people leave in DeKalb now. Also, how did the reduction in transportation impact the bus drivers. That is a hard job. They did not make a lot of money, but each day we owe them the lives of our students,
The area offices lost 1 coordinator and 2 secretaries.
Was Pat Pope offered a new contract?
Get ready...
In the CTSS meeting yesterday, they were told that half of them would be reassigned, and just over half of them would end up with 2 schools. MIS also stated they already knew the assignments, but would let the CTSSes know on Wednesday, when MIS also notifies the Principals.
The "restructuring" will happen next year, once the 12 schools close.
Since when did sam moss become the central office? My understanding is that they are laying off people out there so they can keep all those central office admin. I will bet you that none of those big wheels will get layed off. Lewis and his top salary people will come out of this smelling like a rose. Friends and Family will be ok and the little salary people will be the ones hurt. Tyson will take care of friends and family. I would really like to see the names and salaries of the people she laying off, no friends and family.
This has been a very hard week. Please pray for the people that have lost their jobs. There are some very good people in that group. r
Cere your FTE figures from 5/17 1:02 pm were if the Lakeside teachers were teaching 6 out of 7 periods. Since they are back to teaching 5 out 7 their FTEs are
92. Still down from this school year but only by 5.5
Square Peg at 6:51 The county never gives Lakeside enough FTEs to start the school year. They always end up hiring more teachers and shuffling students around 6 weeks into the year. This is due to an influx of families that put their kids in private for elem. & middle school.
That's good to hear - thanks for the update.
I was informed from an inside source that Dale Davis was let go on Friday.
Well, he's still on the job today.
There has to be someone serving as spokesperson. Tyson has publicly stated that she will not comment to the media - so we have to learn what we can from Davis. If they let him go - we will have no communication whatsoever from DCSS.
When did Tyson say she would not talk to the media?
Well, it says here that Dale Davis still has a job with DCSS:
http://www.ajc.com/news/dekalb/water-main-breaks-behind-530697.html
Nothing ever changes with these clowns!
I think the layoffs are effective the end of June (fiscal year) maybe?
She stated this at the ELPC meeting -
http://dekalbschoolwatch.blogspot.com/2010/04/april-21-2009-elpc-town-hall-meeting.html
She also told this to the Dunwoody Parent Council. She stated that she was only going to say "no comment" to the media.
DD Lives,
Davis is like all other laid off employees. His employment lasts until June 30.
How many positions did they get rid of at the sam moss center. They are laying those people off so they don't have to lay off at the central office.
The sad part of the bus drivers is they don't make a lot of money and they are not in tsa.
They should take salaries of the edwards family and give it to the drivers. And please get rid of that no show jamal edwards.
Your last day is based on the number of months that you work. The employment for paras end on May 24, 2010.For 12 month people, it is June 30th. Each day we find out about more and more people that have laid off. Many of these people do not have high paying jobs. Furlough days will diminish the number of Pre-Planning days. This is a concern for school based people,
I have been told that all the high schools with two media specialists have pared down to one. Not all high schools have two but Druid Hills and Dunwoody have had very successful programs for years and now there will just be one person in the library. As far as I know everyone has a contract.
Anon 11:12 - Is this confirmed? I can't any high school library able to fulfill its purpose with only one Media Specialist and no Media Clerk. It absolutely cannot be done.
Well, since almost no students at Lakeside actually use the library, maybe they can.
It is a shame that students do not use the library at Lakeside. It is critical that students (and adults)be "information literate" and know how to evaluate information they find on the web.
The library is a very busy place in my school. Students and staff rely on the librarian for information and resources and help with technology. It is a shame that Lakeside students do not take advantage of the resources available in their library.
I am angry. I am hurt. I am confused. Tomorrow we will lose two of our finest para educators. These individuals work in special education. They will be laid off so others that do not work in special education, and may not want to will be forced to take those jobs or not have a job. It takes a very special person to work in this area. I am not sure the sense in this process. Schools were allowed to use paras in different ways. Forgive me but I want to say that these are the ones that should be terminated. But that is not a fair statement. These could be very good people.
I spoke to a wonderful, kind man today. In the conversation I found out that he would lose his job on June 30th. He has worked for the school system for 28.5 years.
There are custodians that make about 30 thousand dollars a year. Since they are 12 month employees, there salary will be cut 6.25 percent starting on July 1st. We need to go to four day work weeks during the summer. At least this would allow indiviudals to save some money on gas. Even if some people worked on Fridays and others worked on Mondays. It would help. Please do not say to me that I should be grateful that I have a job. I am grateful and I have been a cheerleader and supporter all this year despite everything that happened I continued to be hopeful. Well, I am losing some of that hope now. We only have one post planning day. We do not know the day that we return to work next year. Please pray for all of the people in the school system. Clayton teachers got a step on the salary scale this year.
We really need an understanding of the process used to determine the individuals who were going fall under the RIF policy. If we understood, maybe it would not hurt so very much. Right now it hurts a great deal. Tomorrow will be a hard day. This is not a good time to be without a job.
The way the cuts were done make no sense to anyone who truly cares about the children. The quality of education the children will or will not receive is determined by who is left working in the district. The board did not ask how the children would be effected by the cuts that they were made. We could have cut more high paying jobs that would have made a bigger impact on the budget and not have hurt the children's education as much as the cuts currently made. It's ashame that friends and family were once again put before the children.
I'm old, and I love books. But students today do not use books as their primary resources. They use the Internet. Ask any high school or college student, and they will tell you the same thing.
Personally, I'm uncomfortable with this heavy reliance on the Internet as source material. In the past, articles rarely got into print and subsequent dissemination unless the information conveyed was peer reviewed (National Enquirer excepted). That is not the case today.
I worry that students today do not understand that all information on the Internet is not equal. I have visions of students looking at pictures of and statements that dinosaurs walked with humans as comparable with evolutionary theory.
DCSS Media Specialists need access to abundant technology in the Media Center and need to be comfortable with students' reliance on this media. Only in this way can they teach students the difference in credible information and not credible information. There actually is a difference in fact and opinion, and students must understand this.
Some media specialists embrace technology, some do not. Every single DCSS media center (and I've been in almost all of them) lacks the technology infrastructure necessary to bring our students into the 21st Century. Gone are the days when "librarians" could teach the Dewey Decimal System and restock books on wooden shelves. Yet that is the reality in most of DCSS's media centers.
Parents, stroll through the media centers in your schools. Ask the media specialists and your children about access to and education about Internet resources.
The problem is twofold:
A. DeKalb Schools MIS Department sees itself as completely separate from the Educational Media Department. Educational Media is too often in the position of begging MIS for:
1. Abundant technology to meet student needs
2. Technology that consistently works
B. Many Educational Media Specialists see themselves as "librarians" who do not need to embrace technology
I know most of us grew up with books as our primary sources of information, but can we truthfully say that we go to the library today to seek information?
DeKalb's MIS group should support our Media Centers with abundant and working technology, and DCSS leadership should require all media specialists be as comfortable in the virtual world as the world of books. Sadly, we remain in the 20th Century with our Media Centers. Until DeKalb's MIS group becomes committed into bringing our students into the 21st Century and DCSS leadership becomes committed to viewing Educational Media Specialsts as purveyors of the virtual world, many of our students will have a difficult time navigating the future.
Today an e-mail was sent to notify all staff members that regardless of their position that they would be furloughed. At one time the TSA cuts were not going to be applied to Food Service Workers, Custodians and Bus Drivers. I guess any difference for those people is now' Gone With the Wind," An Assistant Food Service Workers makes about 13, 000 dollars a year. They work about 6.5 hours a day.By the time you take out the benefits and cut their salary to almost 4 percent that is being imposed on 10 month employees, they will have almost no take home pay. Some of these people work in schools with over 1700 students.
Today was the last day for any of the 10 month people that got the RIF notices. It was hard on every body. When school closes and all the students are home safe. There is always a feeling of joy. This year it is tempered by the loss of so many of those that play such an important part of in the schools.
The individuals that have been displaced will start being placed in jobs very soon. This is going to make for a GREAT work environment next year. Let's see. Your salary is cut. You may have to drive a longer distance to get to work. I know that it is a blessing to still have a job, but people are human.
Oh, I heard that the Fitness Center is being closed. The cost of the salary of the Director of Fitness, which was over 100,000 a year, would have paid for at least three para educators.
Every job that can be cut, consolidated or outsourced needs to be done in order to make sure students are not packed into classrooms of 35 and 36. That's what parents are most worried about, and well they should be.
While it is sad that employees lose their jobs, employees are adults and can get other jobs. Children who miss their educational opportunity cannot regain it.
I have yet to see cuts in the "Upper Management" area of DeKalb Schools. Since "Upper Management" personnel are the ones that recommended hiring an inordinate amount of support and admin personnel, decreased teacher position numbers, increased class sizes, and spendt millions on ineffective learning programs, and gave themselves promotions and double digit raises, they should be cut to the bone.
I hope a new BOE will recognize that Dr. Lewis is not the only one responsible for the incredibly stupid decisions that have cost taxpayers dearly and robbed children of so many educational opportunities.
Very soon we will begin to see the impact that these cuts will make. Each day you seem to find out how many people will be gone next year. Many of these individuals were good and dedicated people. I hope that over the summer we can all rest and begin to focus again on the students and the schools. From the news on yesterday, any hopes that the legal issues would end soon faded. There will not even be the quiet dignity of individuals fighting to prove their innocence in a quiet way. Pray for our system. Pray for Ms Tyson, she has a very difficult and thankless job ahead of her. She has to try to keep this ship going in the right direction with a storm raging all around her. The hurt that people must feel who were RIFFEd. It seems like some place along the way the focus in our school system shifted from educating our students. If those in high places felt that indiviudal were doing wrong, why weren't these people terminated before additional hurt could be done to the school system? People have lost their jobs for a lot less. I struggle with trying to feel compassion for all those involved. That is a hard struggle. I like so many others are so disappointed. Not for myself but for the message that this sends to our students and those that trust us each day to do right for their children.
Post a Comment