Posted by Dan Comer on February 28, 2015, 11:49 am, in reply to "Re: Dan Comer For School BoaRD"
What I believe? 1. I believe education begins and home and we need to get more parents engaged in their children’s education. i.e. PTA, parent-teacher involvement. That's all well and good to say but it seems there's a bigger disconnect now than when my kids were in school.. 2. I would like to see a line item budget. I would like to know what and where we are spending money. I would like to know when we go over budget in areas and where we take the money from to cover the overage. Are we spending our monies wisely and are we missing simple areas to save money? Are we doing a pet project and pulling money from something else? If there is not a line item budget now, it is inexcusable. How do you run a major business without one? Pet projects? Anything not budgeted other than an emergency is a pet project, also known as pork on the state an federal level.
3. I believe we do a lot for our gifted children and our special needs children, but our average child gets left out or only gets the bare minimum. Most children do not go to or finish college. We need to educate these children to be able to get jobs right out of school or help them get some of the specialized certificates that can provide them with a career right out of the gate. Sad statement and one of the biggest problems that all kids can't go to college. Completely agree about the special education students receiving great amounts of money. Gifted? Does it still exist? a. The CEO program is a great program on teaching children to start their own business and learn how that works. They use businesses in the area and teach at these businesses. Kudos to the school district on having the insight to get involved in this program. I'm not well enough versed on this to make a comment.
4. Teacher’s Salaries? That is a hard one. We have very strong unions in this town. Are these unions going to have to make concessions? If they want to look out for their own, they absolutely will. But will they? I am not sure. With all the financial problems, they will either have to make some concessions or sacrifice some of their younger teachers. Which are they willing to do? I would hope they would look out for the group as a whole and bargain in all of their teachers’ best interests. Every time a teacher is laid off, the students lose and the teachers as a group lose. We will see what happens. I, for one, would pay more insurance to keep my job and ensure my fellow co-workers can keep their jobs. But, at the end of the day, they may need to pay more of their insurance premiums to help the district and our children. Are they willing to do that? That will be up to them to decide. I would do my best to negotiate in the best interest of the community as a whole. Of course this is a hefty goal but a realistic one. It is not feasible any longer to support these contracts. New employees will probably be the ones to make the concessions.
5. Janitors? I am not in favor of outsourcing these jobs. I think when we have these staff members with that much close contact with all our children, it is important that we have total control over who these people are. I would definitely make sure we are getting top performance from these staff members. I have worked over the years with these ladies and gentlemen through the band and can tell you, with the exception of one or two, they are top notch people. But I do feel at the end of the day, they are going to have to make some concessions as well. Are they willing? Interesting.
6. Administrative staff salaries? I personally think all Admin salaries should be frozen for at least a year while we work this out. I am a little disappointed that the board has not already done it. How can we ask the community to pay more taxes and not freeze salaries? This, at the very least, is a show of good faith. I think this should go for secretaries and all non union members of the school district. If they expect the citizens to pay more, then they too should show that they are willing to make sacrifices also. I believe this as well. Lead by example. I don't think the administrative team has received an increase for this yea according to some of them anyway.
7. Uniform? I am not for school uniforms. That code is not enforced any better than the old one was. I am not sure how you can justify a dress code to the students and not the same dress code to the teachers. I understand that the teachers’ union will not allow that. If that is the case, then we shouldn’t demand that of our students. Ridiculous statement. So we can give children the same decision making powers as the adults? I would hope a dress code is not needed for teachers. They should be professional enough to know better. However, to allow girls to walk around with their cleavage hanging out or boys to walk around with their pants halfway down their ass is ridiculous. You lose me here so far.
8. Zero Tolerance? I am not for zero tolerance I do not endorse fighting, but sometimes you have to stand up for yourself and not be a victim. Zero tolerance creates victims in my opinion. We don’t need any more victims. We need people who stand up for what they believe in. Go back to the old days. The one that throws the first punch gets suspended. Calling the police over a fist fight is a little over the top. Another ridiculous statement. Kids don't fight the way they used to. They try to "take each other out". I would tell my kid to fight back but I would also understand that he is punished because that's a rule.
If you want to stop bullying, you are fighting a losing battle. It is human nature. There is only one way to stop being bullied - stand up for yourself. Agreed. Bullying is just a kid being a kid. 9. School Lunches? I believe that it is the school districts’ responsibility to offer a nutritious edible lunch. It doesn’t do any good to serve a lunch that the kids will throw out or that is not enough to get these growing kids through the day. It is not the job of the school district to decide what is acceptable to eat. On the contrary sir it definitely is. The federal government dictates that not the local authority.
That is a parental decision. Offer them a balanced meal and other options. When I was in high school, we had cup cakes and candy. We were not fat. It is not so much the food they eat. It is their activity level that is lacking and then the districts cuts gym. Makes no sense there. Then change the federal laws. You have the right to decide what your kid eats if you send his lunch. Otherwise his meals are governed by the feds.
10. Tax referendum? I can’t answer that for you. I am going to begrudgingly vote for the referendum because I believe in our children’s future and our community. What incentive do you have if you are on the fence? The leaders have dug in and said raise taxes, but don’t touch my program or salary or benefits. I believe the leaders have left that up to the community. Vote yes, and try to move forward or vote no and face cuts.
No one has given us an alternative other than raising taxes. The teachers unions have not offered any concessions to help the situation, nor any of the other unions. The school board has not done anything but cut. What about some pay freezes, at the very least? If you want the citizens to pay more, why don’t they take a hit too? I have heard administration say “This tax increase is just one less Starbucks a day.” Really???? What world are they living in?? We have a lot of families in our community trying to keep their heat on right now, trying to make sure they have milk for their babies. You really tell them it is just one Starbucks a day?? How out of touch and insulting is that to us? Shame on them. I would agree in part. yes, if you can afford Starbucks that works. If you cant afford milk for your kids, it's an insult. You keep talking about concessions and if the board has attempted that. Isn't that the point of negotiations? Have you dealt with many unions in your time?
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on February 28, 2015, 12:35 pm, in reply to "