And Now.. A Taste of Things To Come?

Last night, school district administrators agreed to a contract "negotiation" salary and benefits package. In what was expected by some to be a protracted battle, administrations representatives simply said, "We'll take it", regarding the school board's offer:

1% SALARY INCREASE

1% ADDITIONAL PAY TOWARDS HEALTH INSURANCE

2% ADDITIONAL PAY TOWARDS DENTAL INSURANCE

There was some talk from Caren Diedrich about the school board changing its offer from initial...we wonder what it was initially.
Could the 1% be the magic number that was buried within the budget for raises?

There are many that will think, "They shouldn't get any raise at all...their [insert expletive here] salaries should be frozen".

....and we're inclined to agree.

However...the simple reality is that there are not 4 elected board members who collectively own a pair of cojones to freeze salaries. That is the fact, Jack.

WE the community elected them, so WE the community need to take responsibility for their lack of ...er....parts. Perhaps at next spring's elections, the community will take a deeper interest in candidates and support only those candidates who possess the required...let's say intestinal fortitude....to stand firm and represent the community's interests as well as they support education. Raises for administrators are not going to get our kids to scholarship levels.

A roadmap for other "contracts"?
Like dominoes toppling over in sequence, this agreement should establish the market for Administrative Support, Substitute Teachers, Local 60, and....come next spring...teachers.
Let the message ring loudly and clearly: 1% is the best you're going to get in this economy...and you WILL be paying a higher share of insurance premiums (except Local 60, who have been screwed for years).

We suspect we'll take some hits for this, but kudos to the school board for finally showing some semblance of fiscal restraint. Now let the other dominoes tumble and revise the budget DOWNWARD. This was the most community-friendly deal that the current school board was going to get done. And for at least a majority of them...even this deal is quite amazing. It may not be cost-neutral, but when one factors in the out-of-pocket costs associated with the 1% more towards health insurance (they are paying 4% now) and 2% more (it was 0%) towards dental, the percentage is much less than 1%. Remember this is the group that felt they were "entitled" to a 4.5% package increase last year, but "settled" for 3.8%.

If the average administrator makes $90K, a 1% increase is about $900.

Paying and additional 1% for health and 2% dental costs about $350-$400.

That means a net increase of about $500 for family insurance premiums. That, folks, we can live with.

Dear school board...nicely done. Keep the dominoes falling.

Whalen Hail Marys; Shimek Costs Us $140K

Oh...what a night...

Except it wasn't late December, wasn't back in 1963, and it certainly wasn't a special time for anyone. Last night the school board showed the form that reminds us of the Boundary Wars. It was like the Keystone Cops play school board member for the night.

OK...there were some good moments ( very few...more on that to come)....but the fumbling and bumbling which led to incomprehensible decisions was maddening...and embarrassing.

Whalen's Hail Mary

Sadly...this was not a Doug Flutie to Gerald Phelan moment. Not even close. more like fingernails on the chalkboard.

The first major folly came when Al Slane requested that the recommendation to hire another Assistant Principal (read: $ new $100K club member) be considered in a separate motion from the additional teaching and support staff. John Whalen made a motion to approve the hiring. His motion was seconded by Jill Camber-Davidson.

As board members spoke--before the vote--, it was clear that Whalen, Davidson, and Diedrich supported the new assistant principal. Stackhouse (We're a year away), Shimek (We need to try [going without it]) and Slane would vote "NO".

Wait a minute....since ole Seabass McCourt was absent --AGAIN---that would make the vote a tie at 3-3-1. Tie votes fail and the assistant principal would not be hired, saving us $100K.

Tim Culver to the Rescue!

Quasi-board member [we know...that's not possible] Tim Culver practical leapt out of his slouch and cried, "This is a critical decision! I recommend that you table this until the full board is here. I think everyone should own that decision."

We all saw the light bulb go on over John Whalen's head. "Yeah, that's right....um....I move to ...um....table this until the March 22nd board meeting", Whalen stammered.

RIP: Robert's Rules of Order

Roberts' Rules state that a motion to table shall have no discussion. Well...that must be the "modified" Roberts Rules that the school board follows,m because discuss it they did. Al Slane courageously called out Whalen's move for what it was ...a desperate move to hold off until Seabass McCourt could be present. We all know that he'll support anything King Culver wants, thereby breaking the tie. Of course, that would depend on McCourt actually being present for the next board meeting. He's missed 2 of 5 (4o%) in 2010 to go along with missing 25% in 2009.

Uh oh...It seems Jill Davidson will likely not be available for the 3/22 meeting! Gadzooks! Back to a 3-3 tie!

Motion to table fails!

Incredibly, the motion to table the item failed on a 3-3-1 (McCourt!) vote, with Stackhouse, Slane and Camber-Davidson voting AGAINST the notion to table the issue.

Shimek Flip-Flops Worse than John Kerry

...and suddenly the tide turned. Terry Shimek completely reversed everything he has said earlier, and it became clear that he was now fully in favor of supporting the hiring of an additional Assistant Principal. Of course there was a minor Goober Pyle moment when Shimek asked, [Well gee whiz...]can't we hire an administrator for like $40,000? Newsflash Terry...the school board set a policy that basically means we hire assistant principals at a MINIMUM of $75,000 per year. Most make close to $100K.

And that's how it happened, sportsfans...Terry Shimek flipflopped his vote ensuring that King Culver got the additional administrator [ one more minion to control!]...and the taxpayers are now on the hook for yet another salary nearing $100K. With benefits, we're looking at more like $140K per year.

Thanks Terry. Be VERY glad you aren't up for re-election on April 6th.

Oh...and did we mention that Jim McCourt missed yet another school board meeting last night? And this was likely the most important board meeting of the year.

22% Increase to the $100K Club Membership!

Well, the economy isn't all sour.
The school district has added 22% more members to the district administration $100K Club!
Currently 11 of 27.5 (40%) administrative positions are paid more than $100,000 per year.

If Obama really wants to fix the economy we just need to create more school districts and school district administration jobs.

Title__________________Administrator_____2009-10 salary
District Administrator...Culver..........$ 140,786
Asst DA, Business Mgr....Frei............$ 121,900
Director, Spec Ed........Dawes...........$ 113,964
Principal, PMMS..........Luessman........$ 112,496
Principal, PVMS..........Hery............$ 112,172
Director, Instruction....Murphy..........$ 112,088
Director, HR.............Mikula..........$ 111,844
Principal, SPHS..........Heipl...........$ 110,000
Principal, CS............Smojver.........$ 106,892
Principal, UMS...........Ruggles.........$ 100,711
Principal, HO............Klaas...........$ 100,118

Who'dathunk that middle school principals would be paid more than a high school principal?
or that an Upper middle school principal would be paid LESS than an elementary school principal?