Thursday, January 27, 2011

Administrators receive raises

From the PG:

http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/11027/1121051-298.stm

30 comments:

Anonymous said...

is this a part of Gates/Broad idea?
question are these merit raises?
and was there any evaluation on each person performance to warrant the 2 percent raises? ok you gave the chief of staff a 2 percent raise was it proper to hire a deputy chief of staff at a high salary,when was last time raises were giving out and what percent they got,one thing strange they say certain administrators are they hiding some salaries i don't know is this what Dr. Lane propose that her senior staff are well paid among other things sounds like another Enron!!!!!!!!!

Anonymous said...

How many counseling positions have been added in the last year? You know what a counselor is right? They actually interact with students and stuff like that.

Anonymous said...

Anon, this is not Enron, this is the Titanic.

Wouldn't it have been more proper to wait until the Governor releases his budget proposal so you can see how the school district is impacted by the Commonwealth's $4.5 billion deficit BEFORE you hand out administrative raises?

Anonymous said...

Am I the only one bothered that the name of the 'dismissed' teacher was mentioned in the newspaper? Is this an intimidation tactic? Quit or be embarassed?

Anonymous said...

Raises, they have been cutting across the board in my school every year. My classes are maxed out, sizes go up every year when they cut teachers. They keep hiring more people to work at the board. Tons of middle management types who carry clip boards and nit pick teachers. Why do we need more & more layers of management. Our cost per pupil keeps rising and they keep hiring people who do not directly work with children.

Its total lunacy

I have to buy supplies for my students & classroom. Pencils & Notebooks I feed students out of my own pocket. I give kids I coach bus money.

The waste of money in this district is amazing. Grant money has strings attached. We do not have the basics at my school but they give out labtop computers at Sci-Prep


This district is so %^#$%# up.


Welcome to Corporate America, this not a reform, it is the take over & destruction of public education as we know it.

Anonymous said...

Welcome to the Machine!

Anonymous said...

We have failed teachers or displaced teachers who are literacy coaches in our building who never work with children and are mini administrators. It is very Bad. We had one coach once who never did anything, she worked on her administrate degree on school hours. The realy bad thing is she is a PELA now.

Anonymous said...

Anon, in a school district where the coordinator of summer school programs LIVES in Washington DC working on one's administrative degree while "coaching" is the tip of the iceburg.

Anonymous said...

People that were hired 1-6 months ago got the same raise. It s not based on performance. You just have to be on payroll.

Anonymous said...

Anon: 7:25 I noticed they singled out an individual and that jumped out at me. I don't recall the board doing that before, unless it was due to illegal activity.

Why publicly scorn a principal all of a sudden? Wait, nevermind, they have a back up of PELA's chomping at the bit, and the administration does not have the time to fake that they care. The warning is clear. One strike you need to leave, second strike, (backed by ZERO chance of success) your name will be published.

Anonymous said...

I always try to remember that if nothing else, Roosevelt taught this group of people how to be public relations savvy. As such, you throw a teacher or a principal under the bus from time to time to give the public the illusion of due diligence.
If you've spent any amount of time at all looking over the board minutes, the number of teachers who are either terminated or resign due to personal reasons, etc., is off the charts.
THIS is the stark reality of PPS.
This is a district rife with pork. Numerous individuals hiding in their administrative offices doing nothing to impact kids and getting paid for it. Paid well.
And you know what? No one cares. It's a joke.
We live in a time when gym teachers can come off as assistant superintendents making policy in areas like curriculum and grading policies, as well as overseeing just who is an effective teacher and who isn't. We live in a time when school psychologists front learning walk teams with the extra purpose of targeting teachers.
And no one cares.
Not even John Tarka.
Whether PFT leadership---that has turned its back on its own teachers---or parents who pay taxes that support many people not even working with your kids....how do you sleep?

Anonymous said...

i got a idea we can bring in Gates and Broad as PPS AMINISTRATORS or we can outsource the PPS ADMINISTRATORS another options maybe under Obama pay freeze we can freez the ADMINISTRATORS salaries after all PA. as a 4 billion deficit,i thought that i throw that on the table

Anonymous said...

Ever wonder just what or how little the Roosevelts thought about Pittsburgh?

Read more:

http://community.livejournal.com/antioch_college/195185.html

Disgruntled said...

Well, the key sentence is this one:

Roosevelt, 55, along with his wife, Dorothy, 44, wanted a close-knit community in which to raise their four-year-old daughter, Juliana."

Another year at most, and he'd have had to put his child into the schools he's created. That was not going to happen. No matter what he says in public, what he's instituted "wouldn't be appropriate" for his child. But of course, he'll tell you it's great for your child and my child.

And that sums up what's wrong with what has happened in his tenure here.

Questioner said...

It will be really nice not to have to wade through language like this anymore:

“Antioch is uniquely positioned to speak to a better transition between high school to college and college to work.”

- We need straitforward language, straightforward logic and straightforward plans.

Anonymous said...

Wouldn't you love to see how much of his time he spent applying for other jobs?

The word out of Bellefield was that his efforts to do so were quite substantial; no suitors though, other than a college without students and without accreditation.

Kind of makes me want to file a right to know request to see just how many emails were sent to and from MR's board email account with the word "Antioch" in them.

That time would have been much better spent in my school, since I never saw him in 5 years, except on glossy-papered posters/mailings.

Questioner said...

During the last year MR seemed very uninvolved. He seemed to pretty much give Derrick Lopez free reign to make whatever plans he wanted.

Old Timer said...

And in line with that, I wonder how much of Lopez's fall from grace is thanks to a great deal of what Roosevelt fed him?

In any case...

I'm struck by administrator raises, once again. I'm literally amazed that these people make additional money on the backs of teachers.

Then again, I seem to be in a minority where teachers are concerned, in a 'place' where all veteran teachers will find themselves, sooner or later. I'm cognizant of the fact that many, many younger teachers are buying into the idea of career ladders. I'm aware that they have embraced this schlock and "realize" that some teachers (read, older teachers) must go.

Go to enough meetings where younger teachers are, and this point resonates repeatedly.

But I'm also aware that there is no reason to stress. There is no hope. There is no recourse. None.

As a teacher, you will get nowhere with your building administrators. In most cases, they are PELA disciples who, again, envision a pot of gold at the end of the rainbow.

You will get nowhere with central administration. These people were never in the classroom long enough to have any idea of what is actually happening, what the kids need, etc. They envision wealth, too, and since they have been brainwashed via PELA and the IFL, since they have too many years till retirement, well, they are no allies.

You will get nowhere with parents. I don't say this in negative tones, to be sure. The Schenley closure, the middle school closures, the East End realignment--it's all proven that the district has no concern for parent pleas.

And most pointedly, you will get nowhere with the PFT. In many instances, they actually sound like administration. You will likely not even get them coming to your school, let alone listening to your concerns. Again, I refuse to believe John turned colors. Instead, I can only think some arrangement has been made--an arrangement we will never be privy to.

As such, I've come to understand that as teachers...we have no say and we have no recourse. We have no protection and we have no representation.

I've been a vocal member of the union for years but again, what has taken place is simply incredible. So do I get myself sick or do I simply say to myself that this is the reality of our times? A school district has carte blanche to do as it pleases--to even give itself raises--and a union that gets a mandate for changes, has 4 independents run for and win election to its executive board, and then circumvents those new members' ability to become actively involved.

It's a bad and worn out cliche, but truly, it is what it is. Teachers--no one cares. No one cares. At this point, remember your health.

bystander said...

Anon 4:43, I could not grab the link you listed but will enjoy the site as a daily stop.

I can't help but think that Mr. Roosevelt now has the job he should have had 5 years ago.
Antioch seems a much better fit, at least at this point.

Anonymous said...

WHAT IS THE TITLE OF THE ANTIOCH ARTICLE?

Anonymous said...

The title is: Roosevelt ready to lead, and sink roots into community. It does seem like a much better fit, how much damage can he do to a school thats already bankrupt?

Anonymous said...

Title = "Roosevelt ready to lead, and sink roots into community"

Old Timer said...

Roosevelt engineered---via Dr.Lippert, of course---the RISE program. To any non-teacher, this entails reams of paper that will deem a teacher 'effective' or 'non-effective' and if you study all of it closely, you realize what it essentially says....

We, Pittsburgh Public Schools, can get rid of you, the teacher, at any time based on information that largely emanates from our perceptions.

Case closed.

I find it horrifying that young teachers continue to buy into this schlockfest and that the PFT is so willing and happy to sacrifice its teachers.

Truly, I am ashamed to be a member of the PFT. How can a union applaud a program that rewards numerous individuals who are NOT working with kids while turning a blind eye to numerous teachers who are terminated or forced to resign.

Again, one must wonder how John, Mary and the gang at the PFT sleep? Their prescriptions for sleep aids must be incredible.

How do you screw people out of their livelihoods?

Anonymous said...

"Kind of makes me want to file a right to know request to see just how many emails were sent to and from MR's board email account with the word "Antioch" in them"

Are emails included in "right to know?". I am not a fan of MR, but digging through emails seems wrong.

As we all know, 2 wrongs don't make a right. :)

Questioner said...

There was a news story a while back about someone who did request emails of Board members, and the cost to comply was so high that there were proposals for some kind of limits in the RTKL. But it does seem like an unappealing approach.

Questioner said...

(This was in some other district.)

Anonymous said...

Let's get back to the discussion of Anonymous January 27 6:37: "How many counseling positions have been added?". Counselor and social worker positions are being eliminated like never before to the detriment of the students and parents. Peabody still doesn't have a counselor. Langley, Science & Tech, and Obama still don't have a social worker. Everyone admits they are needed, but the PFT ignores the issue and the principals disregard the problem. Meanwhile, the counselors and social workers "actually interact with students and stuff like that" every day all day when principals are nowhere to be found. Everyone comes to the counselor/social worker for practically everything and they are completely overworked and under appreciated.

Anonymous said...

Is it on public record how much the current central office C level, assistant super's, director and Broadies?

It seems to be buried, or I am bad at finding things!

Anonymous said...

Correction, how much they earn.

Anonymous said...

Bump