“Serenity now,” Brunswick style

As you know, dogs are important to us here at Side.  Our faithful companions Boo-boo and Sweety-bitch are pictured on the right side of the page, and though both are functionally blind, they continue to provide us with the silly distractions and companionship that pet-lovers know all to well.  When they need to go out, we almost always say “c’mon kids,….”

Then there’s the ‘government watchdogs’ we’ve talked about frequently on these pages, and most recently pictured in this apropos image:

We suppose that to many in town, we’re considered a junkyard dog for the way we go after the ankles of the local ruling class and their chosen professionals.  “It’s in my nature,” as the scorpion told the turtle.

Recent events and a message from a dear friend have led us to another symbol to use in our efforts.  We give you “Serenity Dog,” an enlightened member of the canine species; one who has reached a higher level of doggie consciousness.  We’re confident that woof-woof guru stature has been reached, and deservedly so.

              

How have we come to this point?  It shouldn’t take but a moment to make you sorry you asked.

Not too long ago, in this post, we told you of a kind offer from School Superintendent Perzanoski:

Why don’t we set up a time next week when Jeff Hipsher and I can meet with you to go over the material? I think that would be the best solution rather than going back and forth on e-mail. Jeff is available after school usually around 2:45p.m. I will tell you that the FTE is 235.73 and the teacher salary line in next year’s budget increased from$13,104,151 to $13,572,299 and that is a $468,148 and 3.57% increase over last year. Please let me know what day works for you. Paul.

In response, we stated that we would like to do so, with the conditions that 1) we be allowed to record the meeting, and 2) that at least one School Board member attend as well, preferably one that served on the committee that conducted contract negotiations.

We wanted to record the meeting because we were hoping to gather information, and one layman would find it difficult to listen, think, respond, take accurate notes, and otherwise participate fully with two professionals immersed in the subject matter.  Recording it would protect the others if we mis-represented any information gathered at the meeting.  Besides, all the important meetings are broadcast on Community TV, so a public record exists of what was said.  We believed the same should hold here, but were happy to record the audio only, rather than call for a full-blown video record.

We wanted a School Board member to attend to provide ‘member of the public’ balance to the paid professionals, and to confirm the information we were being given was consistent with what they had been told during the contract process.  If that puts us in the ‘trust but verify’ camp, so be it.

The response we got was as follows:

Good afternoon Mr. Schaeffer I’ve had a chance to review the series of e-mails between us and your request for additional staff attendance and the ability for you to tape the meeting. I’ve answered your questions and offered to meet to have a dialogue about the content of the contract. It is clear with your request that this meeting is more than just informational and will serve no useful purpose for the School Department. I respectfully withdraw the offer to meet with you but will offer you copies of the spreadsheet for each year of the contract that analyzes how many teachers are on each step, the cost and increase for each year. If you would like copies of the spreadsheets, please contact Business Manager Jim Oikle. Thanks, Paul.

Think of that what you will; we consider it our obligation to pass it along to you.  Since that response arrived, we have in fact obtained the referenced spreadsheets from Mr. Oikle, and we are posting them for you to examine and absorb.  Please excuse us; we looked for a way to merge them into a single file, but were unsuccessful.  So you’ll have to look at them one page at a time.

http://www.scribd.com/doc/97014262/Year-One-2012-2013-Brunswick-Teacher-Contract

http://www.scribd.com/doc/97014311/Year-Two-2013-2014-Brunswick-Teacher-Contract

http://www.scribd.com/doc/97014327/Year-Three-2014-2015-Brunswick-Teacher-Contract

For a frame of reference, you might want to relook at this file:

http://www.scribd.com/doc/90562543/11-12-Brunswick-Teacher-Salary-Table

Last but not least, you don’t want to forget what appeared in this memo:

http://www.scribd.com/doc/95071822/April-11-Teachers-Contract-Memo

We have not proofed the three spread sheets we were provided for accuracy in computation or agreement with the new contract posted a few weeks ago.  Hopefully our paid professionals check and recheck the data in cases like this.  So let’s proceed with what we discern from this data and the weeks of postings and emails that led up to this point.

Observations:

- As we asserted, the dollar figures provided in ‘the memo’ could only be derived from specific head counts, with details of seniority steps, for each of the three years, combined with salary figures for the next 3 years, to the dollar.  The spread sheets made available to us prove that point.

- It seems clear that these figures were available BEFORE the vote to approve the contract on April 11th.  In other words, the School Board could have been given the salary tables for the new contract, and relevant assumptions, before voting on the proposal, instead of only ‘the memo,’ which we continue to maintain was a misrepresentation of the facts, and a very brief attempt at glossing over more complex and vital details.

- This simple fact makes delaying contract signing and posting for public consumption till the very end of May, when virtually all budget hearings and decisions were complete, look like a deliberate tactic to keep the details hidden from view until the short attention spans of the public had focused elsewhere.  And it makes the Superintendent’s statement in an email of April 19th, 8 days after the vote, that they had yet to complete the salary scales, seem deceptive.

- The figures in ‘the memo’ make two very critical assumptions.  First, that the staff head count covered by the contract would not change by even a smidgeon from the school year now ending (FY 12) through the third year of the new contract (FY 15).  Second, that not one of the 231.73 FTE staff covered by the contract would advance their educational achievement sufficient to move over one column or more in the salary schedule during the contract period. 

- You can make your own guess at how likely these assumptions are to bear out over the next three years.  We’ve decided any such assumptions are hokum on their face.  For one thing, if you go to this presentation by the Superintendent, you will see that he proposes the addition of 36 new staff in the coming years: 20 clinical/psychology staff; 5 instructional consultants; and 11 educators.  That’s without considering the impact of K-8 summer school he proposes!  We challenge you to name one School Board member who would dare oppose such staff growth, given the hundreds of sign posters around town who would demand that we ‘imagine and invest,’ and do it NOW!  And besides, if we don’t, your house will lose another 20% in value, says Sally Sellit.

- As to not changing educational attainment?  Do we suddenly think devoted teachers will not see the value in taking classes to increase their skill and income?  Compared to a basic BS degree, getting 15 added credits will raise your salary 1 ‘step’ per year, or nearly $1600.  Moving from that point to a Masters Degree will add another 1.4 ‘steps,’ another $2200.  Add 15 more credits, and you jump another .6 ‘steps,’ or $900 plus more.  Move up to the CAS column, and you get another full step on top of the rest.  And depending on your effort, it’s certainly possible a teacher could move two columns to the right during the 3 years of the contract.

- The specifics of the approved contract make ‘step increases’ significantly different from year to year.  In the first year of the new contract, a good many of the membership receive a two step salary increase, because of the elimination of the ‘zero step’ from year 14 to 15.  In the second year of the contract, step increases returned to the more typical pattern of a single step for most teachers.  In the third year, the zero step between steps 22 and 23 is eliminated, giving the top heavy teacher corps a two step increase as well.  Hence, stating “step (2%) plus blah, blah, blah” for each of the three years of the contract is wrong and a clear misrepresentation of fact.  (Remember, a single ‘step’ averages about 3.5% across the full salary range.)

- The statement that annual savings on School Department costs for health insurance in the second year of $117,000 is accepted without substantiation.  However, since the new policy carries forward from that point, there is no additional savings of $117,000 in year three.  Year two sets the new baseline, and that carries forward to year three.   Hence, at the very least, the dollar increase for year three is $409,588, vice the cited figure of $292,588.

- Independent of the highly unlikely assumptions, and the assertions that ‘step’ is 2% in each contract year, this last point makes it clear that summary effects on the budget were misrepresented.

- As an absolute minimum, School Board members should have been told what assumptions were made in generating the numbers they were given to take the vote, since they were presented with aggregate staff figures, rather than raises that could be viewed in terms of their consequences for individual teachers.

- Apparently the requirement to earn your Masters by year 8 of your teaching career was not adhered to very earnestly.  Out of the 46 plus FTE’s (full time equivalents) without a Masters, 35 are beyond year 8 in the salary scale.

- Given the unchanging total of 235.73 FTE’s for each contract year, we find the following average salaries: in FY12, $55,590; FY13, $57,576; FY14, 59,879; AND FY15, $61,616.  The new contract specifies 182.5 workdays per contract year, so these figures work out to $315, $328, and $338 a day respectively, compared to $304 a day in the school year just ended.  Those figures work out to an average salary in the $80,000 a year range when compared to 52 weeks of work.  Not too bad, especially when you throw in cadillac benefits.  And this doesn’t include stipends for various other duties, etc.

- We hope to have updated figures from the town shortly, but based on the data from a few years ago, we suspect these average figures for the teaching staff places them in the same pay range as department heads on our municipal staff.  We’ll update you as soon as we get the detailed figures. 

- Apparently each covered member will be paying an additional $500 annually towards their health coverage.  That’s not much in view of the 3 years of guaranteed raises, is it?

- It should be pretty apparent that we have a pretty top-heavy teaching staff, which undermines the challenges of retention and recruiting we hear year after year. In FY13, 36% of the teachers are at the top salary step; in FY14, 38%; and in FY15, 41%.  In FY13, they account for 42% of total salary dollars; FY14, 43%; and FY15, 46%.

Questions:

- It’s clear to us that the teachers union calculated all the figures and the specifics of the contract proposal.  We’d sure like to know what the negotiating members of the School Board did on our behalf, what they presented, and what their response was to the teachers’ submission?

- On what basis were ‘negotiations’ conducted?  Ordinarily, we would expect the process to begin with expectations for individual salary increases in each of the 3 new contract years.  The data provided to us, and ‘the memo’ provided to the School Board to inform their contract vote, suggest negotiations were based on total budget cost to the Department for each contract year.  With very odd and unlikely assumptions to boot.  Call us cynical, but we could easily surmise that this was an intentional ploy to throw School Board negotiators off kilter, hoping they would eventually say ‘whatever, sounds good to us!’  All it would take to dissuade us of this view is input directly from someone who was involved correcting out view.  They will be given all the space they want here on our pages.

- Rich Ellis, the resident numerologist on the School Board, rose at a public hearing on May 31st to say he “fully understood the information he was presented” before voting on the contract.  Understanding the information is one thing; whether it makes any sense is another.  As always, Rich has an open invitation to correct and enlighten us on these pages.  As we’ve observed before, he seems to be an expert on what’s happening in every other school district within the sound of our voice; surely he can clear things up on this local matter, where he represents the public in good old Brunswick.  The burning question that comes to mind is whether he was referring only to ‘the memo,’ or whether he had the three spreadsheets in hand that we have provided here.  If the latter is true, how can he explain his privileged status in this matter, and why didn’t he object to the distorted characterization provided to his associates on the board?

- And as long as we’re directing comments in Rich’s direction, perhaps he can help us close out the question of the dollar savings for those 102 position cuts the super promised us.  You remember; on April 19, Mr. Perzanoski told us this:

I don’t believe we are required to complete research on your behalf. We thought it was a good idea to compile it and we are doing that when we have time. You’ll have it  when we are finished. Thanks, Paul.

As fate would have it, that was exactly two months ago, and we still have no answer.  Six weeks here, two months there; pretty soon, another year slips by, and next thing you know, one forgets about promises, commitments, and other things.  Rich, oh Rich?  Are you still there good buddy?

While we are able, you have our word that we will not forget.  We don’t bury bones in the back yard, but we still try our best to follow through on our questions that have been buried by others.

Ankle-biters need their fun too.

Planned Follow-up:

We will, in the next day or two, post a detailed analysis of the raises contained in the new contract, salary by salary by salary.  It will no doubt not interest many of you; but for those who want to see things to make up their own minds, you’ll have all the information you need, and we think you will find it eye-opening.

So until we get back to you on this subject, ‘woof-woof,’ keep your tail wagging, and please remember to do your business in your assigned outdoor location.

Serenity does have its obligations, you know.

For a few laughs, watch this serenity compilation:

http://youtu.be/v3VCl3yBURs

Technorati Tags: Brunswick,budgets,school department,contracts,school board

“The Most-Praised Generation” & Teachers Contracts

We were reading something yesterday when we came across a reference to an article from five years ago that talks about the consequences of unconditional praise and rewards in our culture.  It’s gotten to where (and this was five years ago!!) consultants are being hired by major companies to teach managers how to publicly praise and compliment employees for doing their jobs.  One firm even has a ‘celebrations assistant’ on staff, who among other things, dispenses 25 pounds of confetti a week, and as many as 500 balloons.

You can read the article here.  A passage or two to whet your interest:

Childhood in recent decades has been defined by such stroking -- by parents who see their job as building self-esteem, by soccer coaches who give every player a trophy, by schools that used to name one "student of the month" and these days name 40.

….some researchers suggest that inappropriate kudos are turning too many adults into narcissistic praise-junkies. The upshot: A lot of today's young adults feel insecure if they're not regularly complimented.

We well remember our own little angels’ school days in the last century, and ‘student of the month’ was one per grade.  And at the end of the year, there was ‘one student of the year.’

As we read and thought on the essay, we came to realize that the teachers contracts in our town follows the ‘you’re special – everyone gets a trophy’ model.  The best teachers get the same raises as the worst teachers, and vice versa.  All raises are absent any performance metrics; they’re based only on years on the job and post graduate credits, and that’s it.  You can see it in the salary tables.

And throw in the efforts of the HBS parents group that we talked about here:

The SCG Hospitality Committee organizes events showing appreciation for the work of the HBS staff. For the first day of school we had a welcome back to school breakfast buffet, and in November we had a soup luncheon for the HBS staff. We also organize teacher appreciation tokens. For example, in January teachers received a bag of mints with a tag that read “Thank you for your commit-mint to our children’s education.” Also in January, the staff enjoyed a “grab and go treat buffet” on the early release day, and after the February break, the Hospitality Committee dropped off six dozen Frosty’s twist donuts as a
welcome back from vacation surprise for the HBS staff! Upcoming events include a potluck dinner during April’s parent-teacher conference time, and a teacher appreciation luncheon in May. Our goal is to share with the staff how much we admire and appreciate all they do to educate and nurture our children.

Throw in de rigueur public proclamations during budget sessions that Brunswick ‘has the best teachers’ and ‘excellent schools,’ even if the speakers couldn’t cite one iota of evidence to backup their claims.  Maybe next year, after reading this, they’ll bring confetti and balloons to the hearings.

Where we are on the contract analysis:

The more we contemplate the new three year contract, the more we come to understand the opportunities for getting lost in the details.  When you have 125 salary figures for each of three years, with notations for ‘adjustments’ on a portion of those figures, the possibilities for getting mired down are numerous.  And this is without considering additional ‘stipends’ etc.

We’ve come to understand there are at least three ways to characterize the approved contract.

The first is with generalizations such as this:  “In year 1, the teachers get a general increase of x% plus a step increase; in year 2, they get a general increase of y% plus a step increase; and in year 3, they get a general increase of z% plus a step increase.”  Based on what we’ve seen over the past decade or more, this method has been modestly effective, as the contracts have followed, more or less, a consistent pattern.

The second is the method used to tell the School Board what they were voting for on April 11th.  It (apparently) takes the total dollar increase for the covered membership in each year, and expresses it as a percentage of the base aggregate salary line.  For reasons not clear to us, the resulting figure was expressed as ‘step plus 1.57%, total 3.57%,’ leading to much confusion about the concept of steps in the contracts.

We don’t recall the contracts being characterized this way in the past, but we could have been asleep at the tiller.  We’re confused further, because it requires knowing precise staff composition for the next three years, and then applying that against the three detailed salary tables for FY13, 14, and 15 to get the ‘total dollars’ figure. 

Since we were told the tables needed to be computed after the contract was approved, and we don’t see how staff can be known to that detail for the next three years, we are perplexed by the precision displayed in these figures, and the Board’s willingness to approve the contract on this basis.

The third method is to pick teacher examples at various experience and educational attainment levels in the current school year, and ‘walk them through’ the three years of the new contract to see what happens to their salaries.  We’re busy pulling that together right now, and based on our first glimpse, it generates results significantly different than the first method.  The increases tend to be quite different than the other ways of stating things.

Stay tuned, and make sure you’ve got enough confetti, cupcakes, and balloons on hand.  We don’t want to risk anyone feeling under-appreciated and ordinary.

That would make them like the rest of us, and we can’t have that now, can we?

Technorati Tags: Brunswick,praise junkies,teachers contracts

Maine Wire Op-ed: School Budget Intimidation

You can surf on over to The Maine Wire today, where you will find this commentary on the process of enacting school budgets.  An excerpt:

Never, ever talk about teachers’ contracts or explain any of the details. Be sure to approve a new contract before the budget proposal for the coming year is put before the public and elected officials for approval. Leverage inexperienced reporters and pliant media by giving them soft-soap details that downplay the scale of salary increases.

Technorati Tags: Brunswick,school budgets,schools,Maine Wire

Town Council stiff-arms opposition; approves school and municipal budgets

This past Thursday night (31 May), the Town Council met to act on the various warrants associated with approving the School, Municipal, and County components of the overall town budget.

I don’t believe I can recall a council meeting with fewer attendees, and less stimulating content, yours truly excepted.  If one took this correspondent, the School Superintendent, and two school board members out of the mix, the only others (save one I didn’t recognize) were the usual town staff members. 

There was a brief cameo appearance by Senator Stan the Minority Man, who must have gotten wind that we were going to speak.  Otherwise, why would he subject himself to the annoying adulation of town officials?

If you crave excitement, you can watch the video of the meeting here.  In the unlikely event you do so, you will see your trusty correspondent deliver the remarks below. 

(Fair warning: there is a rather glaring reflection from our manly but ever so sparsely populated pate.  Next time we speak, we’ll have to visit the Cable 3 makeup chair and see if they can apply some anti-glare makeup. If they can’t, we’ll have to wear a ‘do-rag,’ or perhaps a baseball cap turned backwards, one of our most becoming looks.  We will not, repeat not invest in a special purpose hair helmet to be used only for on screen appearances.)

The remarks:

· School Matters: I don’t know how many of you have read my recent blog posts regarding the process for approving the new 3 year teachers contract. If you haven’t, my assertion is that the vote to approve the contract was made on the basis of false pretenses. The information provided to the board to inform their vote was materially and substantively incorrect, and the same figures were provided to the public, and you the council.

· The School Budget is 61% of the total Brunswick Budget. The teachers contract, I would guess, makes up at least half of the school budget total, making it the single largest item in the town budget, and nearly one-third of total town spending.

· Understating the contract terms, as I believe was done, and putting it before the Board for a vote of approval, is an abuse of public trust. It should not go unchallenged, and those responsible should be held accountable for their actions.

· Since the contract was approved on a material misrepresentation of fact, it is incumbent upon the council to summarily reject the contract approval and the budget based on it.

· If you let things stand as they are, you will make this council party to the deceit, and exacerbate the pervasive public distrust of government, its elected officials, and those sometimes called public servants.

· Whatever else you may think about these matters, this behavior on the part of our officials is a disgrace, and if you fail to take appropriate action, you will tacitly endorse it.

· General Budget Matters: It seems to me that short of substantial application of reserved funds to counterbalance spending increases, we would have been looking at a property tax increase of at least 10% this year alone.

· It is also clear that the School Department is expecting to increase their tax demands upon the town very substantially in the coming years; the Superintendent has stated that the ‘starting point’ in the two years following the one about to begin is a $3.2 million problem, or another 10% tax increase there alone. We’ll have to pay the piper for the reserve application in this new budget, and the avoided 4% plus tax increase will pop up in our faces. As I read the CIP, we can expect at least a 10% property tax increase in the next few years for the projects contained there-in.

· Get out your whiteboard, and it’s pretty easy to show that we’re staring at a near term tax rate increase in the range of 30% above the current tax rate in just a very few years.

· I believe it is incumbent on the Council to compile and brief the public on the budget and tax increase outlook for at least the next five years, and it should be done immediately. Not doing so, under the current circumstances, is an abdication of your implicit obligation to inform the taxpaying public to the best of your ability, and raises concerns about not acting in good faith. Further, it will subject residents to challenging tax bill shocks year after year after year.

· If you feel you have no choice but to implement such draconian tax increases, the very least you could do is give those who pay them a clear indication of where things are heading. Especially in consideration of the elders among us who live on fixed and/or limited incomes.

· Thank you.

Our remarks elicited the usual non-response when delivered, but strangely enough, they did result in a comment or two a bit later into the meeting.

Our thanks to Councilor Dave Watson, who went so far as to ask whether there would be any response to our comments when the appropriate school budget warrant came up.  Watch the video from about time stamp 8:45 to 11:00 or so to see the exchange that took place.  You can move the little slider to watch this portion if you don’t want to just watch from the beginning all the way through the first 11 minutes of the meeting.

Here’s the essence of what followed Watson’s question.  Council Chair King said that if the School Superintendent or a School Board Member wanted to comment, they could, but that she herself was not prepared to respond to our statement or Watson’s question. 

While you can’t hear it on the replay, the Superintendent next indicated he was not prepared to speak on the issue.  Then School Board member Rich Ellis rose to say he fully understood the information he was presented to vote on, which does not address the assertion we made. 

He then added that he had surveyed teacher salaries in both Cumberland and Sagadahoc counties, and concluded that Brunswick salaries are below the median, an observation that also does not address the points we made.  He labeled our comments “an accusation, but not what I experienced.”

(Note to Rich Ellis: how are you coming on the dollar savings estimate for the 102 position cuts in recent years? You seem to have mastered the information base in every other school district within 30 miles or so, while our own School Department staff doesn’t seem to have figured out how to come up with the number. Perhaps the answer is for us to add up the value of the lowest paid 102 ‘positions’ in the payroll summary from a few years back.)

If we had been quicker on our feet, we could have risen to respond to his thoughts by discussing the street ‘improvements’ in the First Parish Church area, which would have been just as germane to his comments as his were to ours, and a good deal more interesting over all.

So all in all, while Councilor Watson provided a brief moment of euphoria, it only took seconds more for harsh reality to snuff it out.  We fell for a head fake, and then got blocked out as usual.

Now that we think of it, perhaps we do have a future in town government.  We’re starting to distill things down to their essence, don’t you think?

Technorati Tags: Brunswick,school budget,town council

Discussions on the teachers contract issue..

Here at Side, we like to keep you abreast of our discussions with town officials.  Below we offer the email exchange in which we are  pursuing an explanation of the once confidential memo on which the vote to approve the contract was based.  (Jeff Hipsher is the head of the Brunswick Teachers Association.)

Our outgoing message number 1:

Sent: Wednesday, May 30, 2012 1:56 PM
To: William Thompson; Brenda Clough; Corinne Perreault; Matt Corey; Janet Connors; Jim Grant; Michelle Joyce; Michelle Small1; Richard Ellis; Town Council
Cc: John Eldridge; Paul Perzanoski; Jim Oikle; Jeff Hipsher; Matt Hongoltz-hetling
Subject: Revised figures

All:  Based on the figures in the new contract posted on the school web site today, I have updated the "forecast" I compiled earlier based on the figures announced to the public, applying them to the current contract in the typical pattern of all past contracts I have studied.

Those forecasts are shown in a gray background in the attached file.  (That’s the document that was posted here.)

I have appended the figures from the new contract for those same salary points, and they are shown in yellow highlight.

I have two conclusions from this brief effort: the characterization provided to the school board for the vote, and subsequently provided to the public and the council, remains a misrepresentation, if different in the specifics than I would have thought from public disclosures.

And, the historic "pattern" of prior contracts has been broken vis-a-vis public statements & characterizations.

While the figures have changed, my assertion that the School Board vote was based on false pretenses stands, unless someone can show me why it no longer applies.

Incoming response number 1, received the same day, from Superintendent Perzanoski:

Mr. Schaeffer the total increase in year one is $468,148 or a 3.57% increase; year two is $542,880 or a 3.99% increase; year three is $409,588 or a 2.9% increase which is what the Board voted on and passed. It includes a 85-15 % split in insurance in years two and three; the reduction in force language grouping change; removal of the master’s degree requirement; nurses placed on the salary scale; and a change in the retire/rehire sidebar based on the new state statute. Thanks, Paul.

Our outgoing response to the above:

To: Paul Perzanoski <PPerzanoski@brunswick.k12.me.us>; Billy Thompson <whthomps@yahoo.com>; Brenda Clough <cloughschoolboard1@live.com>; Corrine Perreault <cjperreault@comcast.net>; James Corey <jmattcorey@gmail.com>; Janet Connors <janet.connors.me@gmail.com>; Jim Grant <jimgrant1701@msn.com>; Michele Joyce <mjoyceschoolboard@gmail.com>; Michelle Small <msmall@gwi.net>; Richard Ellis <rich.ellis@mainecove.com>; Town Council <towncouncil@brunswickme.org>
Cc: Jim Oikle <joikle@brunswick.k12.me.us>; John Eldridge <jeldridge@brunswickme.org>; Jeff Hipsher <JeffHip@brunswick.k12.me.us>; Matt Hongoltz-hetling <mhongoltz-hetling@theforecaster.net>
Sent: Wednesday, May 30, 2012 9:19 PM
Subject: Re: Revised figures

Mr. Superintendent:

Thanks for your response.  I have several objections to your offering; let me explain.

To begin with, it assumes staff make up for the next 3 years to the person can be known, which seems nigh on impossible. Second, in my years of following the contracts, they have consisted of step increases plus a uniform percentage increase to the table overall. 

The statement "step plus 1.57%, total 3.57%" clearly infers that 'step' is 2%, which it absolutely is not. Step ranges anywhere from 5% or so to more than 2% depending on one's spot in the salary table.  The same is true for the other year figures you cite.

I don't believe the dollar figures you quote for total annual salary increases could be computed without two things: a detailed map of the contract teacher corps showing where each individual lies on the salary scale by column and row, and detailed salary charts for the proposed contract for each of the three years. 

While it's been a good while since my graduate school days, this brings to mind what I remember as 'linear algebra,' involving mathematical operations (computations) with a number of "m x n" matrices.  In this case, the matrices have 5 columns and 24 rows.

While you may have the mapping of the teaching corps by row and column, your previous communications made it clear that the new salary matrices had to be calculated AFTER the approval of the contract.  I don't see how you could not have had the salary charts at the time of the vote, yet still have calculated and provided the total dollar numbers and percentage increases you quote.

Additionally, you are asking me to believe that unions negotiate on the basis of total, aggregate salary costs, rather than on the basis of salary increases for individuals, and that union members ratify the contract on that same basis.  Not for a second would I accept such an assertion.  In the same vein, I summarily reject the notion that someone could take $468,147 in total annual salary increase and reverse engineer the salary table to meet that target.

At any rate, the three sample cases I chose to analyze make it seem most improbable that the salary increases for each year are the percentages you cite, without assuming substantial changes in head count and salary distribution.

In conclusion, I reject your assertions, pending your response to my objections.  You are asking me to step on too many rocks to cross a very deep river, and I do not wish to take that path.

Perhaps you can offer an alternative explanation, or Rich Ellis can develop a plausible scenario.

I have an active, if not infallible mind, and the more I think about these things, the more holes I see in the narratives so far.  That said, you have my word that if I dived into the deep end of an empty pool, I will admit it publicly.  I'm not seeing that yet.

I look forward to your further elaboration on the subject.

Our next outgoing message: 

Sent: Thursday, May 31, 2012 9:32 AM
To: Paul Perzanoski; William Thompson; Brenda Clough; Corinne Perreault; Matt Corey; Janet Connors; Jim Grant; Michelle Joyce; Michelle Small1; Richard Ellis; Town Council
Cc: Jim Oikle; John Eldridge; Jeff Hipsher; Matt Hongoltz-hetling
Subject: Re: Revised figures

Mr. Superintendent:

The curse of an active mind has struck again.

Reviewing the contract, the salaries in the table for 12-13 appear unchanged from 11-12 salaries for steps 0 thru 14, and are each $1547 higher in steps 15 and up.  This applies to all columns.  The 'zero step' from year 14 to 15 was changed to a full step, thereby elevating all the salaries after year 14.  The step increase in 11-12 was $1547, so this dollar amount has not changed.

You cite a $468,148 total salary increase for this year, and say it is 3.57%, which infers that total salary in 11-12 is $13,113,389, and grows to $13,581,537.  This is all attributable to step increases, since there is no general or percentage elevation to the table figures.

For year 13-14, the entire salary table is elevated by 2.5%, and this increases steps to $1586.  You say the total salary increase is $542,880.  A 2.5% increase alone to a base of $13,581,537 would amount to $339,538.  Add step increases to that, which are higher than the year before, and I would expect a total increase significantly higher than you quote, probably in the range of $800,000, which would be nearly a 6% increase.

For year 14-15, the entire salary table is elevated by 0.2%, increasing steps to $1589.  Also, the 'zero step' from year 22 to 23 is changed to a full step.  At this point, the base would be in the range of $14,500,000 by my reckoning.  One would think the 0.2% 'general increase' coupled with the larger step increases would result in a total salary increase larger than the $468,148 figure you cite for year one, yet you show a smaller amount: $409,588.

As a side note, a $468,148 salary increase in year one suggests that you have roughly 300 full time equivalents covered by the contract; is this correct?

In summary, the more I reflect on the numbers you provided below, the more difficult it is for me to make sense out of them vis-a-vis the contract document that has been posted.  And I can not make sense out of the memo provided to the School Board for the vote on the contract. I just can't make them all 'hang together,' to use a 'precision' term.

I hope the quick assessment above is clear and follows accurately the base figures.  I continue to look forward to further clarifications from you.

Thanks,

Pem Schaeffer

Incoming response to the above from Superintendent Perzanoski:

Why don’t we set up a time next week when Jeff Hipsher and I can meet with you to go over the material? I think that would be the best solution rather than going back and forth on e-mail. Jeff is available after school usually around 2:45p.m. I will tell you that the FTE is 235.73 and the teacher salary line in next year’s budget increased from$13,104,151 to $13,572,299 and that is a $468,148 and 3.57% increase over last year. Please let me know what day works for you. Paul.

====================================================

That’s where things stand at the moment in this discussion thread.  We did see the Superintendent at the budget meeting Thursday night, and told him we would be getting back to him on his kind offer to meet.

On a separate note, we did see an article in this week’s Forecaster that you can read here.

We found a passage or two of passing interest:

….Superintendent Paul Perzanoski expressed frustration with criticism, and issued an impassioned plea for residents to exercise patience…

and this one:

"This is probably the most uncomfortable community I have ever worked in.... When I got speaker after speaker coming to the podium all this year and all I hear is how horrible we are, because of the transition, it bothers the hell out of me."

No further comment needed or appropriate, we believe.

Technorati Tags: Brunswick,school budgets,teachers contract

Quick update on the new Teachers Contract

The new three year teachers contract appeared on the Brunswick School Department web site this morning.  You can find it here.

Based on the salary tables contained in the contract, we have updated our earlier forecast samples that were based on disclosures made to the public, however you might choose to interpret them.

You can find the comparison here.

In the chart, the entries shaded in gray are those that take the contract for the school year just ending and elevate them by the amounts previously announced to the public, adhering to historic contract patterns.

The entries shaded in yellow start from the contract values for the school year just ending, and then apply the figures from the new contract for the three ensuing years.

As you’ll see, for the three cases originally chosen, two make out slightly less better than predicted, while the third makes out better than originally estimated.

Our first look at the contract shows two things.  First, the ‘pattern’ seen in prior years from contract to contract has been broken, so it is not really possible to characterize the increases in summary form.  Second, this fact, coupled with the actual numbers, still makes the summary that was provided to the School Board for a vote, and provided to the public and the council following the vote, erroneous by any measure we can come up with. 

Clearly, step increases are not a flat 2% as was stated.  And we can’t find a way so far to come up with the “3.57%, 3.99%, and 2.9%” figures quoted as well.  Frankly, we can’t make any sense of that pronouncement in comparison to the actual figures.  We just can’t imagine how they came up with it.

Someone else is going to have to explain that to us; we can’t wait to see how they do it so we can improve our understanding of contracts.

Till then, while the specific details have changed a bit, our assertions about false pretenses have not.

Not that it matters.  Unless you like banging your head on the nearest available wall.

Oh, and just so you know, there is a special council meeting at 6pm tomorrow night (Thursday, 31 May) in the usual meeting room.  This is to adopt the budget for the coming year, and will be your last chance to offer comments.  We promise to let you use our soft spot on the wall if you show up.

Technorati Tags: Brunswick,budgets,teachers contracts

Fiddles, bows, and a culture of well, you can decide….

                     

Knowing you were so delighted by our prior multiple choice question, we decided to present you with another.

Question:  Would you prefer to be governed by officials who:

A) deceive us?

B) or who game the system?

C) or who are clueless?

D) or who are incompetent?

E) or all of the above

Why do we ask?  Because what we are about to tell you brings all these possibilities into play.  We have discovered an act of such conspicuous malfeasance that it raises a number of critical questions, and we will do our best to list them for you.

So let’s get to it.  In a post earlier this month, we explained that the School Board apparently was asked to vote on a teachers contract without seeing the document.  We further explained that the School Superintendent provided an erroneous summary of the contract salary increases to the town council, and as it turns out, to the general public after the vote to approve the contract.

We now know that the School Board vote to approve the new teachers contract, conducted in executive session on April 11th, was based on a written summary that materially and substantively misrepresents and distorts contract realities resulting from ‘negotiated’ salary increase figures.

Some would say that using these erroneous figures is an act of fraud.  Some would say no; other factors may be involved. Hence the multiple choice answers given above.

In the worst case, all are part of what transpired.  This all goes to whether misinformation was willfully provided, or those involved were willfully uninformed.  These are terms handed down to us some years back by the editors at The Ostrich, you may recall, when they accused certain councilors of not behaving diligently regarding the Oxford Aviation proposal.

We responded that The Ostrich has been willfully misinforming and uninforming readers for decades.  It’s one thing to have a newspaper that does so; but what do you do when your government and its elected officials are distributing and acting upon critical information that is shamefully incorrect?

Here’s how things played out to the best of our knowledge.  Negotiations between the school board reps and the teachers union were all but concluded when incoming school board members were sworn in (December, as we recall).

Not a word was made public about the ‘negotiation results’ for months, so all the ‘softening up’ presentations provided by the School Department before serious budget voting was to take place were conducted without knowing what effect the salary demands in the contract would have.  Conversely, agreement between the negotiating parties was reached before a full understanding of budget effects and tax effects were known.

In other words, in keeping with the priorities we asserted in recent posts, the teachers’ raises were negotiated and agreed to long before any other budget particulars. 

Yet the School Board was not asked to vote on the results until April, nearly 3 months after negotiations were largely completed.  Just as inexplicable, the new contract is not yet available, nearly two months after the vote on the 11th of April.

Now the kicker.  We are in possession of the document used to inform the school board at the Executive Session in April as they prepared to vote.   You can see it here.  The document was no longer confidential as soon as the vote was taken; it became a part of the public record.

You can see very clearly that the document includes the deceit that step increases are 2%, which is absolutely false, as we illustrated to you, the town council, and the school board with these documents:

http://www.scribd.com/doc/92872339/Teachers-Contract-Forecast-for-Town-Council

http://www.scribd.com/doc/90562543/11-12-Brunswick-Teacher-Salary-Table

The School Board now looks like a string section with the union and the School Superintendent wielding the bows; and by extension, the public and the town council have picked up their instruments and allowed themselves to be played in the same way.

We’ll give Brunswick Community United an award for most  supportive accompaniment to the establishment, led by a willfully uninformed and mis-informed Associate Professor of Art, of all people.

Is this fraud?  We’re not an attorney, so we can’t say.  But we can say that since the School Department and the teachers union have the current and past contracts in hand, the characterization provided to the School Board for the vote appears to have intentionally distorted the facts to achieve a desired outcome: approval of the new contract.

Now the relevant follow-up questions.

- Who prepared the one pager: was it the teachers union, who then provided it to the Superintendent, or was it prepared by the Superintendent and his staff?  (We suppose it could have been prepared by the Board members who took place in the negotiations, but we doubt it.)

- Was the School Superintendent a part of the negotiations? If so, why, and what role did he play in them? Isn’t this supposed to be between the board and the union?  And why is he in the Executive session when the vote is taken?  Isn’t he supposed to be a neutral party?  (Yah, sure!)

- How long has this been going on?  How long has the 2% deceit been used to mask reality?  Did they use 1.5% in the past?  Have School Board members read and understood the contracts?  Ever?  Given conversations we’ve had with past board members, we’re inclined to think not.

- If so, how could they have stood by and let the Superintendent state that there was a ‘salary freeze’ in the current contract?

- How do we know that the annual dollar costs of the salary increases in the summary are correct?

- Does the School Board really negotiate with the teachers union, or does the latter, together with the Superintendent, decide how it’s going to be, and leave the Board with virtually no say?

- What was the foundational basis for negotiations between the board and the teachers union? What numerics were on the table to inform the discussion? Was this a case of the blind leading the blind, or a one eyed king leading the blind?

- What should happen to a contract that was approved on the basis of a willful misrepresentation of the particulars?

- Who is the main perpetrator of the fraud?  How should they be held accountable?

And then of course, the opening question.  After reading the foregoing, you can ponder whether deception, gaming, cluelessness, or incompetence is at the heart of the issue.  Or all of the above.

We have our own conclusions, but we’ll keep them to ourselves, at least for now.

The real shame (and crime) here is that in all likelihood, there will be no consequences for this abuse of office and trust; no one will be held accountable; no one will take responsibility; and nothing, repeat nothing, will change. This will at best be a footnote in the annals of the Brunswick Hall of Shame, and nothing more.

So who should we blame for allowing such an atmosphere to exist and thrive?  Hint: if you’re about to pass a mirror, look away; you may not like what you see.

Now would somebody wake up our government watchdogs, please?

Really, we like the one below best; we are dog-lovers, you know.

It best captures the essence of keeping an eye on things in our local government, as practiced by our media outlets.  Especially the ones who don’t pay their property taxes.

Oops….one more question before we sign off; have you ever heard “Who’s zooming who” played on a fiddle?

Technorati Tags: Brunswick,schools,teachers contract,School Board,deception

Brunswick finances and the Iceberg theory of leadership

The Forecaster just ran a rather confused article discussing Brunswick’s budget circumstances, conflating spending increases with tax increases, amid other characterizations that are less than helpful to a clear grasp of reality.  We’ve made a note to contact their reporter and provide a bit of tutelage.

The article, aside from its narrative errors, made clear the nature of our dilemma.  In the face of long term budgetary crises, we find councilors expressing concerns over funding for sidewalks.  Like that’s the biggest problem we’ve got.  What about petunias in the Maine Street dividers; don’t they matter?  And wouldn’t an orchid garden on the town mall be a great community addition?

Given that it’s too late for speaking with the reporter to make any difference, we will do our best to explain things here, knowing full well that our efforts make no difference either.  Such is the nature of head banging.  But it feels better when we click on ‘publish.’

Sidewalks brought to mind deck chairs on a particular ocean liner.  We trust you know which one.  And we recalled the iceberg theory of leadership as a parallel concept, which evolved during the glorious if ill-fated Titanic era.

The theory holds that you can wait for an iceberg to come to you, or you can decide to move cautiously ahead while trying to thread your way through a hole in the iceberg, or you can declare “damn the iceberg, full speed ahead!” 

It also holds that unless you reverse course, you will hit the iceberg; it’s only a question of when, and how hard.  Or, as in the photo, if you thread your way through it, you’ll simply hit something bigger on the other side.

On the subject of leadership; we’ve always loved this quote:

Have you seen my people?  Which way did they go?  I must know; I am their leader!

Let’s talk about leadership in local budget and financial matters. The Town Council, at a minimum, should have called for a mid-year (1 January) forecast on revenue expectations for the rest of this fiscal year and the coming fiscal year. Based on the result, they should have established budget ceilings for municipal government and the School Department, to lead both organizations to live within their means.

They should have issued a directive to the Town Manager that he was not to submit a budget that exceeded a specific amount, or called for a property tax increase larger than X%.  They should also have issued a statement to the School Board that under no circumstances would a budget proposal calling for a tax increase larger than Y% be accepted and approved.

This should have resulted in a directive from the School Board to the School Department making it clear what budget boundaries would be.

Instead, we have the School Department backing the School Board into a corner, and the School Board backing the town into a corner, and the town backing the council into a corner.  And worst of all, the council backing taxpaying residents into a corner

Just what you would expect from leadership, right?  And every one of them says it’s not their problem…..”somebody else did it, and we didn’t see it coming.”

Here are the specifics, from the most recent proposed municipal budget, which you can find here.

Total Budget

Spending increases from a current year budget of $53,463,870 to proposed spending of $54,865,804. This is an increase of $1,401,934, which by itself, would normally call for a property tax increase between four and five percent.  These figures are budgets, not actuals, so the surpluses and reserves included are unknown.

Revenue sources shown, other than property taxes, decline $2.2 million on the school side, and increase $1.5 million on the municipal side, which means the town is dipping into piggy bank reserves big time.

Net result: what looked like a 12% or so property tax increase has been masked to look like a 6% property tax increase by making use of one time funding sources.   No matter; the spending baseline has been raised, and it will come back to haunt us very, very soon.

This is like using money from the kids’ piggy banks or your savings account to pay for groceries.  It’s the same irresponsibility the School Department showed by spending one-time ‘stimulus’ funds to cover current operating expenses, and even expand them.  Either they did it knowingly with a ‘damn the consequences’ attitude, or they simply didn’t know better; either way, we have a problem, Houston.

Town

Municipal expenditures are proposed to grow by $1,216,333, a 6.41% increase.  AOTBE (all other things being equal,) this would normally cause a 4% increase in property taxes.  Municipal revenues are dipping into reserves and using other stratagems to lower demand on property taxes by $257,583. Without getting down in the weeds, this sounds like roughly $1.5 million in piggy bank funds is being tapped for municipal purposes alone.

BTW, the library gets a 10% funding increase.  Never mess with the bookies.  We’re thinking of giving them holy of holy status.  But what about the sidewalks, Councilor Tucker?

Schools

Spending is essentially flat, increasing by less that $200,000.  But because of the decline in enrollment driven revenues, the school budget calls for a $2.369 million increase in property tax support, or 14% more than the current year.  This alone would generate a nearly 8% increase in the property tax rate.

So to make a long story short, what would have been a 12% increase in property taxes is coming in at a 6% increase because municipal government is effectively throwing $1.5 million into the school revenue stream.

Bottom Line

Just how long do you think this denial and cover up can last?  How long are you willing to give road repair funds to the teachers in the way of automatic pre-programmed salary increases?  And how long are you willing to ignore reality - that we are on a path to economic failure and chaos that can’t be avoided? 

Potholes?  Potholes are just the town version of deferred school maintenance, which now is in the range of $40 plus million!

Capital Improvement Plan

The budget document itself has $2.5 million in capital spending for vehicle replacement, road paving, and other things, including, apparently, $480,000 for Bike Pedestrian Bridge replacement.  Personally, we have no idea what this is about, but we’re sure it’s a vital component of our community, and that replacing it is a top priority of someone.  By comparison, it makes the $100,000 increase in library support funds look downright frugal.

Future Outlook

The future outlook is grim, dear readers.  Nothing but icebergs ahead.  The five year capital improvement program can be found here.  In it, you’ll see capital spending plans of nearly $20 million in the coming year, and nearly $44 million over the next 5 years.  That includes the new Police Station, a new Fire Station, $9 million in school renovations, and $5.7 million for a fitness center.  We can’t wait to see what that’s going to be.  We’re afraid our heart is almost at its swelling limit for community pride.

If we read the CIP correctly, the tax rate impact in the year after next will be about 10% to cover debt service plus operating expenses for the new projects alone.

Add this to the masking of a 4 to 5% increase this year.  A town baseline for next year that is 4% higher than this year, statements by the School Department that they already know they have a $1.8 million problem next year and a $1.4 million problem the year after (10% property tax increase right there!) and a wish list a mile long for staffing, preschools, summer schools, contract salary increases, mental health care providers, counselors, on premise teacher car wash facilities and the like, and you’ve got more icebergs than you can count looming ahead.

Think we’re pulling your nose?  Go here and look at slides 15 thru 26, and tell us how we can be excellent in our schools if we have all these unfilled and unmet needs?  Huh, huh, huh?  C’mon, Jane, let’s hear it!

You can easily construct a scenario that says we’re heading for a 25-35% property tax rate increase in the next few years.  As a matter of course, we should be demanding that our leaders immediately construct that scenario, so we can decide where best to put our deck chairs for the heavy seas we’re entering.  And doing so would permit them to slam your loyal correspondent and prove him wrong.  We can’t wait for the abuse.

You ‘common good’ and ‘community pride’ devotees should be ecstatic over the outlook, and no doubt our real estate agents can’t wait to show how great Brunswick is by pointing out that taxes are going up by 30% or so.  School excellence, town excellence; are we leaving anything out?

And those imagine and invest advocates are going to get their way, more than they ever dreamed.  And they won’t know what hit them, we’re sure.

Tuck this in your holiday reading stack; it should brighten your summer measurably.

And we haven’t even told you the most interesting news yet.  Your community pride and respect for our leaders is about to reach new (you fill in the blank).

Stay tuned, readers.  We’re about to break an exclusive that will prove that things are far worse than you might have thought, and even far worse than we thought.  We will show that the Brunswick School establishment is ‘meeting or exceeding expectations’ in at least one rating area.

We’ll leave you with this candid photo we took the other day; it shows our local ‘government watchdog’ media outlet on the prowl for the facts, just the facts, ma’am.

Technorati Tags: Brunswick,budgets,tax increases,capital plans

MEA: Excellence in education ‘for the children?’ Or eminence in progressive political advocacy?

“When school children start paying union dues, that's when I'll start representing the interests of school children.”

Albert Shanker - President of the United Federation of Teachers [1964-1984] & the American Federation of Teachers [1974-1997]

You may have read that the Maine Education Association recently endorsed the same sex marriage referendum that will be on our November ballots again this year.  If you haven’t, you can read about it here.

PORTLAND, Maine — The Maine Education Association voted Sunday to endorse the referendum on the November ballot that would allow same-sex couples in Maine to marry.

We have little doubt that the endorsement comes with a healthy campaign donation, since generating funds for political advocacy is a core competency of the MEA.

Some months ago, a member of the Maine Legislature penned an op-ed about MEA advocacy:

For MEA, education excellence takes a back seat to politics

By Jonathan McKane, Special to the BDN

Not long ago the Maine Education Association — the teachers union — promoted educational excellence in public schools and worked for better pay and benefits for teachers. Certainly, that was the public image the MEA enjoyed.

But times have changed. Today, it has dropped any pretenses and has shown itself to be a well-financed, partisan lobbying group that advocates a progressive ideology.

You can read the rest of it here.

We don’t know if Albert Shanker is still vertical, but if he is and we could find him, we’d ask him to revise his classic quote above to be more current.  Perhaps something like this would work:

“When school teachers can provide us the influence and prestige that politicians give us for our campaign funds, maybe we’ll get back to considering their wishes and the education system.  When school children start paying union dues, maybe we’ll find the time to think about them every now and then.  As for the rest, let them eat cake.”

Hey, Al; if you should see this, feel free to make it yours, as they say.

Technorati Tags: education,teachers union,same sex marriage,political advocacy

Volunteer update, etc….

We thought you might enjoy reading about the efforts of the volunteer community at Stowe (HBS) School.

You can read their newsletter here.

Items we find interesting include these:

The SCG Hospitality Committee organizes events showing appreciation for the work of the HBS staff. For the first day of school we had a welcome back to school breakfast buffet, and in November we had a soup luncheon for the HBS staff. We also organize teacher appreciation tokens. For example, in January teachers received a bag of mints with a tag that read “Thank you for your commit-mint to our children’s education.” Also in January, the staff enjoyed a “grab and go treat buffet” on the early release day, and after the February break, the Hospitality Committee dropped off six dozen Frosty’s twist donuts as a
welcome back from vacation surprise for the HBS staff! Upcoming events include a potluck dinner during April’s parent-teacher conference time, and a teacher appreciation luncheon in May. Our goal is to share with the staff how much we admire and appreciate all they do to educate and nurture our children.

Maybe we’re just confused, but this sounds very much like the public is here to serve the staff, rather than the staff serving the public.  But who knows; we’re probably just misguided. 

Take a look at this:

The Teacher Prep Committee has been very busy this year as well. A number of volunteers have stepped up to assist the teachers with prep work for their classrooms. Volunteers work on Tuesday and Thursday mornings from 9am-12pm
to complete a wide variety of work, including photocopying, laminating, and any other task that teachers request to assist with their classroom work. The Teacher Prep Committee is always looking for more volunteers; if you are interested, please simply show up on Tuesday or Thursday mornings and check in at the main office. Thank you in advance for any assistance we can get!

Call this what you will, but consistent with our quandary in the post earlier today, it sounds to us like the volunteers are, in so many words, personal staff for the teachers, rather than volunteers who assist in the learning and enrichment process.  Our suspicions grow stronger.

For your edification, here’s another dose of information showing just what is involved in funding our schools these days.

http://www.brunswick.k12.me.us/hbs/contact-our-staff/

As you can see, HBS has approximately 40 ‘faculty’ on staff, but also has another 40 or more staff in various supporting positions, including two ‘talent development teachers.’  They must be the ones coaching hot prospects for entering the American Idol competition.

All told, 100 plus educational staff, or a ratio of one for every 6 students or so.  Not including custodial and food service staff.

We know we’re old fashioned and completely out of touch with modern day government education standards, but this leaves even us aghast. 

And we don’t ghast all that easily.

Technorati Tags: Brunswick,schools,budgets,volunteers

Sometimes you’re the fiddle, sometimes you’re the bow..

             

Well, well, well; it’s been more than a week since we last posted on this deep subject.  Since that post, our most recent efforts have garnered significant ‘idiotic’ ratings, which is a good thing in our view.  It means we’re striking a nerve out there in readership land. 

We only wish those who enter the idiotic ratings had the courage of their convictions, and posted a comment to which we or others could respond.  Drive by ratings aren’t particularly useful in advancing the discussion.

The essence of the prior post is this:

Simply stated, the highest priority of the Brunswick School Department is giving automatic salary increases to the teachers every year, along with paying for 90% or so of the cost increases in their very generous benefit plans, generous beyond anything in the private sector.

We provided cogent substantiation for our view, which is why, we are sure, so many new idiotic ratings were entered.  These readers could not refute our logic, so they acted like little spoiled brats by calling us names.  How adult!

Given all the frothing, fretting, and pontificating about excellence in our school system, about which we’ve written extensively, we’d like someone in the BCU crowd to get back to us with a coherent explanation of how prioritizing teacher salary increases above all else protects and advances school excellence.  Surely the schoolies have thought this through, or they could call upon their Professorial mentor to help them out. 

And then there’s our sincere real estate sales professional, always a reliable source for evaluating the quality of town services for prospective home-buyers.  She’s been getting lots of free exposure on the community TV channel with her regular appearances to plug higher school spending.  Surely SHE can tell us how higher teacher salaries ensure school excellence.

“Oh, yes, isn’t this a lovely garden, and look at the rustic and cozy kitchen; why it’s a perfect blank slate to build your very own dream.  And did you know Brunswick just gave their teachers three more years of 5% average annual salary increases, with no merit ratings involved?  You can’t get any more excellent schools than that!  Now lets put together your offer!”

We also reported here that we apparently have an active volunteer corps at the elementary school level.  On that front, we again call upon our devoted schoolies to chime in with useful specifics.  What we’d really like to know is what percentage of the volunteered hours is spent handling busy work for the teachers, like making, collating, and stapling copies, and what percentage is spent actually helping with instruction in the classrooms? 

Providing office clerk services is nothing to be sneezed at, but it doesn’t say much for drawing upon all the expertise available in this town, does it?  And we’re damn sure no self-respecting Bowdoin prof would lower himself to such drudgery.

We’ve learned as well that there is a Student Activity Fund at one of the elementary schools, at least, managed by a group of community volunteers.  Funds appear to be raised by the usual methods: kids selling things to adults, bottle collections, box top collections and the like.

We would expect such funds to be used to supplement the budgets of our cash starved schools by paying for field trips and other special experiences.  It appears, however, that significant funds are given to teaching staff for undesignated purposes.  In the case of our newest school, this approaches $10,000 per year.

We have two questions: since we’re in the habit of giving the teachers 4% and more in annual salary increases ($2,000 and up), regardless of merit or achievement, is it really necessary and acceptable to have ‘the children’ raise even more funds to give to the teachers?  Secondly, just what are the strings attached to these dollar appropriations?  Is giving the teachers a cash sum really the best way to ensure funds are being used for educational purposes?  How does one know that amounts being raised are helping kids learn better, rather than being used for personal purposes?

We’ll look once again for the schoolies over at BCU to come to our rescue with answers, because inquiring minds want to know.  At least they should want to know, shouldn’t they?

The reason we put so much confidence in the BCU groupies is because they’ve recently shown their concerns for such matters on the BCU Facebook page.  Turns out they’ve been chatting up a storm about the new flat screen TV in the Stowe School lobby. One went so far as to say it made her sick to her stomach.  (She should spend some time talking to us; we’d have her retching her guts inside out in no time at all.)

And there are comments about the movie watching taking place on white boards and in the computer lab. 

Lordy, lordy; we can see the real estate ads now: “buy this lovely home in Brunswick, where your children will see the best movies in our schools, reflecting the personal effort that has always defined excellence in education here in Perfect.”

Pass the rosin please, Rosie.

Technorati Tags: Brunswick,schools,excellence,teachers

The answer you’ve been waiting for, right?

A few weeks back, in this post, we presented you with a multiple choice question: 

What is the highest priority of the Brunswick School establishment, by which we mean the School Board and Department Administration taken as a whole?  Is it

A) The Children?

B)  Department Facilities?

C)  Raises for Teaching Staff?

At the same time, we gave you a number of specific questions for each choice to help you focus your thoughts, and promised that if you didn’t come up with the answer on your own, we would eventually come back to you with the correct choice.

Not a single one of you responded with an answer, so we don’t have to dip in to our petty cash fund to buy gold stars for anyone.  We hope, however, that in a blinding flash of the obvious, the answer jumped off the page and slapped you up side the head.

On the slim chance that didn’t happen, here is the correct answer:  The highest priority of the Brunswick School establishment is C) raises for the teaching staff.  And as we’ll point out later, just about everyone else with a say on the subject.

Simply stated, the highest priority of the Brunswick School Department is giving automatic salary increases to the teachers every year, along with paying for 90% or so of the cost increases in their very generous benefit plans, generous beyond anything in the private sector.

It’s not even debatable. This priority is established by contract, and traditionally has been classified as ‘costs beyond our control.’ The teachers get their increases for doing the same thing year after year, with no merit or performance contingencies. And time after time, the School Board, acting ‘on our behalf,’ grants exactly the same arrangements and generous terms in what is wrongly called negotiations. The teachers union gets generous automatic compensation increases, and the School Board gets little in return. Year after year after year.

This spring a new three year contract was ‘negotiated.’ In all the Superintendent’s charts about cutting this and cutting that, did you see one word about the size of step increases, or holding salaries level for the next two years?  Did you, huh?  Did you see any mention of trading off compensation increases against cuts to AP and other courses?  We don’t think so, Tim.

The school board approved the new contract on April 11, without seeing it; before knowing school budget details; without knowing which budget option they would select for forwarding to the town council; without knowing what the town council would approve; and whether the voters would approve the budget.

No matter; the teachers union got what they wanted first and locked it in with a School Board vote.  Based on the timing and sequence of things alone, it’s clear that the teachers come first, NOT the children. 

They get their 5% or more per year in average annual raises without concern for whether ‘the children’ get their AP teachers and various other accommodations of ‘excellent schools.’  And their health insurance continues to be bought from the union on a no-bid basis to keep the campaign war chest running over for upcoming elections.

No suggestions of lower increases to save teaching ‘positions.’  No mention of the rank and file taking lower raises to save the jobs of union brothers and sisters.  How’s that for ‘solidarity?’  And ‘stronger together?’

Nope; the contract approval on April 11th effectively precluded even a smidgeon of consideration of it’s consequences in budget deliberations and tradeoffs. It was a fait accompli, and in this case, a three year done deal.

Furthering the cause of the union, contract information passed along via media and Department leaders was sketchy and understated, lulling the public and school advocates into a snooze of complacency.

The Ostrich, as usual, totally blew it; The Forecaster came close to blowing it; and the head imagineer over at BCD completely and shamefully botched it.  Even the School Superintendent, as we reported here, botched the facts in response to a question from the Town Council.

Even now, the contract is still not available, nor are the dollar savings computation from the 102 position cuts that were used to soften up taxpayers earlier this spring.

Furthermore, it’s clear this is the highest priority of the Town Manager and the Town Council, since they dipped into municipal reserves to offset what would have been a 7.3% property tax increase just for the schools.  It’s also clear that this is the highest priority of the teachers, higher than ‘the children,’ as we explained earlier, regardless of the effect on cherished AP classes and other slashes and assaults upon the well-being of our children.

Let’s cut to the chase: we all work for the teachers and their union, rather than them working for us.  Yet even with their pre-programmed 5% or so annual increases, they’ll still be complaining about having to buy crayons for their classrooms!  Did it every dawn on anyone that if their raises were, say $500 less per year, there might be enough money to buy all the pencils and paper they want? 

Of course not; it’s much preferred to keep the pay details hidden from public scrutiny and muddled in media reports, while preserving the tried and true mantras of public attitude formation.

More than ever, the same old ‘truer words were never spoken’ quote applies:

“When school children start paying union dues, that's when I'll start representing the interests of school children.”

Albert Shanker - President of the United Federation of Teachers [1964-1984] & the American Federation of Teachers [1974-1997]

 

Mrs. Fiddle, meet Mr. Fiddle.  We hope you enjoyed being played in the annual spring concert.

Pass the jug, would you Jethro?

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