Klingenberg redux?

[Harry]

Ted, I think you must have heard wrong.  43 additional staff members?  Check your numbers again. That's almost an entire school.

[Ted]

Ted, I think you must have heard wrong.  43 additional staff members?  Check your numbers again. That's almost an entire school.

No, I heard right - 25 are reading interventionists; 3 are ESL specialists; 4 are special needs kids specialists; 8-9 are teachers to address increasing enrollment and 3 are administrative staff.

  Most of the new positions are not primary teaching positions - they are adjunct positions.

  The biggest chunk are the reading specialists/interventionists.  They are adjunct positions who will help out kids with low reading scores.

[Ted]

I do have issue with the build out of the office....

  The office buildout is just the tip of the iceberg - Our esteemed superintendent has some extravagent spending habits, all being paid for courtesy of the D100 tax payer.

  BTW, why is the D100 tax payer paying thousands of dollars to the Willow Creek church?  Shouldn't there be a separation of church and state?

[Ted]

I do not think that employees should be able to use vehicles for personal use- that's crazy...

Another issue with vehicle use by employees for personal use is drunk driving. If a district employee is driving a district vehicle while drunk and gets into an accident, the district would be liable.

  That's another reason to end this policy.

[Ted]

  One other thought on Stan Fields flying around the country to speak at Apple conferences.

  District 100 has a contract with Apple Computers - to buy Apple computers and pay for licensing and maintenance.  My understanding is that the district has purchased over 2,000 computers from Apple.

  Is it a conflict of interest for the superintendent to receive compensation from Apple for air fare and hotel costs when he speaks at a conference?  If the superintendent receives a stipend from Apple for speaking at the conference, does that add to the conflict of interest?  Is it a violation of the Illinois gift ban?

  At the board meeting last April, one board member stated that Fields' receipt of compensation from Apple was a violation of the Illinois Gift Ban because the district has a contract with Apple.

  For example, if a building contractor has a contract with the district and that building contractor offered board members or the superintendent a night out in a sky box at Sox Park, that would be a violation of the Illinois gift ban.

  Is the Fields Apple situation similar, since the district has a contract with Apple?

Finally, should the district be responsible for paying for employee's meals at the conference or their O'Hare parking lot fees before and after the conference?

[mustang54]

I do have issue with the build out of the office....

  The office buildout is just the tip of the iceberg - Our esteemed superintendent has some extravagent spending habits, all being paid for courtesy of the D100 tax payer.

  BTW, why is the D100 tax payer paying thousands of dollars to the Willow Creek church?  Shouldn't there be a separation of church and state?

Hmmm,The Willow Creek Church, and Apple,good job Ted your getting a whole lot warmer!!!

[Ted]

  Hmmm,The Willow Creek Church, and Apple,good job Ted your getting a whole lot warmer!!!

If I said Paisan's Pizza, would that make me hot? 

   

[Harry]

Ted, I think you must have heard wrong.  43 additional staff members?  Check your numbers again. That's almost an entire school.

No, I heard right - 25 are reading interventionists; 3 are ESL specialists; 4 are special needs kids specialists; 8-9 are teachers to address increasing enrollment and 3 are administrative staff.

  Most of the new positions are not primary teaching positions - they are adjunct positions.

  The biggest chunk are the reading specialists/interventionists.  They are adjunct positions who will help out kids with low reading scores.

You are outright lying.  The district did not hire and additional 25 reading interventionists.  In addition, 8-9 teachers were not hired for increasing enrollment.  Where are you getting your facts?  ESL teachers and special needs teachers are required by law. 

[Ted]

You are outright lying.  The district did not hire and additional 25 reading interventionists.  In addition, 8-9 teachers were not hired for increasing enrollment.  Where are you getting your facts?  ESL teachers and special needs teachers are required by law.

Don't call me a liar, dude. I am not lying. 

  This discussion is about the proposed FY14 budget - not something that has happened in the past. This is something the district is proposing to do as part of the FY14 school year.

  My facts are coming from what Stan Fields has stated at board meetings about the FY14 budget.  Fields has proposed hiring 25 reading interventionsts and has proposed hiring 8 to 9 teachers for enrollment increases.

  The proposal for the reading interventionists and ESL literacy/reading coaches was first made by Principal Majewski last spring to the board at a board meeting.  It was then incorporated into the FY14 budget.


http://www.berwyntalk.com/smf/index.php?topic=13034.0

Also proposed to the board in conjunction with the grade centers was a proposal to hire 6 to 8 more FTEs as literacy instructors and reading coaches, including ESL, to help out at the grade centers - the cost would be $360,000 to $480,000 additional per year.

  Finally, the principal of Komensky provided evidence that more reading instructors were needed in the schools (especially in the two middle schools) and proposed the hiring of 20 new people as reading interventionists at a cost of $1 million dollars per year.


These are new positions in the proposed budget, not current positions.  It's not something I made up.  It's coming straight from the horse's mouth.


Next time you call me a liar, you had better be sure YOU have your facts straight.

[buzz]

  BTW, why is the D100 tax payer paying thousands of dollars to the Willow Creek church? 

okay.......why are we paying anything to Willow Creek church ?

[chandasz]

Yes-- please explain the Willow church thing....

Ted-- you've talked about cutting costs-- how do you propose that D100 cut costs? Having kids at D100 schools- I know how bare bones it is. My going-into-4th grade daughter has said that there are still kids in her class reading on a kindergarten level. There are 7th graders reading on a 3rd grade level.

How do we solve the literacy issues at our schools, solve the overcrowding, solve the crumbling and insufficient infrastructure issues while cutting costs?

I appreciate your involvement. I've seen you at the school board meetings. I would just like to hear some of your solutions that won't sacrifice education any more and yes-- that would actually improve education in our current situation.

As for the Apple stuff-- I don't know what the ethics rules are for this- you could be right. Are the school gaining by his participation at these conferences? I had understood that most/a lot of the technology at the schools were funded by grants.

[Ted]

Yes-- please explain the Willow church thing....

I don't know the explanation.  I have been told that Willow Creek Church is the church that Stan Fields goes to.  The charges were on a District 100 charge card.

Here are the payments identified on the Accounts Payable report for FY12:

PO# 1712364, Check #83306, Date 8/26/2011, Amount $79.00
PO# 1712569, Check #83363, Date 9/23/2011, Amount $204.00
PO# 1712907, Check #84100, Date 11/18/2011, Amount $716.00
PO# 1712907, Check #84100, Date 11/18/2011, Amount $179.00
PO# (none), Check #85965, Date 6/27/2012, Amount $79.00 (listed twice in the report)

Ted-- you've talked about cutting costs-- how do you propose that D100 cut costs?

  I haven't talked about cutting costs - I have questioned the risk of increasing costs with additional hires and spending.  What if the referenda does not pass?  Is the additional millions of dollars in deficit due to additional hires for reading interventists worth the risk, especially if the referenda do not pass?

  The originally expected budget deficit was $4 million dollars (as was stated at board meetings several times over the last year).  At the last board meeting I attended it was over $6 million. Part of the increase in the deficit is due to additional hires and spending.

  If we cannot even afford to cover the original $4 million dollar deficit, how can we expect to cover a $6 million dollar deficit with a lot of new hires - especially since the district has maxed out its debt and the district has only $12 million dollars in reserve?

Having kids at D100 schools- I know how bare bones it is. My going-into-4th grade daughter has said that there are still kids in her class reading on a kindergarten level. There are 7th graders reading on a 3rd grade level.

How do we solve the literacy issues at our schools, solve the overcrowding, solve the crumbling and insufficient infrastructure issues while cutting costs?

I appreciate your involvement. I've seen you at the school board meetings. I would just like to hear some of your solutions that won't sacrifice education any more and yes-- that would actually improve education in our current situation.

  Does it make sense to spend money to hire 25 reading interventionists for only a single year if there is no money for that programme next year?  Is it worth the risk to put the district farther into the hole than it already is?

As for the Apple stuff-- I don't know what the ethics rules are for this- you could be right. Are the school gaining by his participation at these conferences? ... 

  The district's lawyers have given the opinion that it is legal.  However, the fact that something is legal does not make it ethical.

  And, the fact that it may be legal does not mean people may not have a negative reaction to it during a referenda campaign.  That's ultimately what sunk Klingenberg.

  It may be legal for Fields to accept these gifts from Apple to fly around the country but it seems to me to be unethical at the least and it would not play well to the voters in a referendum election.

That's why I think the board and DACEE need to get out in front of these issues.  They have a potential Klingenberg situation on their hands. There is more stuff out there and they need to get ahead of it before it destroys the chances for the referenda passing.

[mustang54]

   Teddy your gettin warmer again! Church + Apple+ ?= A whole lot of ? Unethical you say in Berwyn? No way Ted!
  And Chandasz here is a question to ask. If these kids are reading so much lower than grade level why are they being promoted to the next level and not flunking the grade and being held back? I never believed a few years back when 201 teachers told me that they had freshman reading at 4th grade level! Why are they promoting these kids if they can't frickin read!! Thats why education these days is a farce. NO ONE is held accountable from the kid,to the parents,the teachers, and everyone up the chain. Just keep em movin! Pass em on.

[buzz]

Church + Apple+ ?=

does it have anything to do with the Garden of Eden ?

[Ted]

Ted-- you've talked about cutting costs-- how do you propose that D100 cut costs? Having kids at D100 schools- I know how bare bones it is.

  I don't think it is as bare-boned as the administration is making it out to be.  If I do a back of the napkin calculation, the district has around between 3600 to 4,000 kids.  If the teacher/student ratio is 20, then that should be about 200 teaching positions.

  Instead, the district has proposed over 300 teaching positions in the FY14 budget (at least, that's my understanding, with the newly proposed positions) - 50% more than the district needs.  Why does the district need 50% more teaching positions than the minimum.

200 teachers times $60,000 per teacher is $12 million dollars in salary.  Yet, the teaching salaries in the budget is around $20 million (according to statements made at the last board meeting I attended).  That's $8 million dollars over the minimum needed.

Here are some things to look at to balance the budget:

1. NO NEW HIRES! - The district does not have the money to pay existing teachers.  Why is it even contemplating hiring into new positions, especially for adjunct positions or administrative staff. That is insane. I would not hire the 25 reading interventionists until or unless the referenda pass.

2. 2 Teachers per classroom initiative - A few years ago the district started an initiative to have 2 teachers per classroom. Given the budget situation, I think the district should go back to 1 teacher per classroom and lay off the extra teacher in each classroom.

3. Central location for some special needs kids - Right now, half of the La Vergne center is being used by Youth Crossroads.  Why?  Could the La Vergne Center be used instead for space for some teaching - maybe use the space for the special needs kids in the district and centralize that function.

4. Half Day Kindergarten - The district should look at going back to half day kindergarten and seeing how much money that saves.  If the district had half day kindergarten, they would be able to layoff half of the kindergarten teachers in the district. Get rid of it for now until the referenda results come in.

5. No Pre-School - Right now, the district is providing some pre-school classes at some locations.  Get rid of it for now until the referenda results come in.

I know the above sound harsh and uncaring.  And, I can understand why the board would want to continue existing programs until the referendum results come in.

But, if you do want to balance the budget, those are the places to start.

OR

1. Increase property taxes -  Another alternative is to pass referenda that increases the tax rate by $1.50 per $100 of EAV (which will bring in $6.6 million dollars in revenue) and a $35 million dollar capital bond.

  That will increase the property tax on the average Berwyn household by between $750 to $1,000 dollars (and that does NOT include money for public preschool - the apparent holy grail of the "bold leadership" crowd) - $200 to $300 per household to rebuild Hiawatha and $550 to $700 per household for the tax rate increase.

  Do you think the average Berwyn resident wants to see their taxes go up by $550 to $700 to pay for adjunct reading interventionists, 2 teachers per classroom and full day kindergarten?

  That's the choice.

[JLM430]

Ted,  where did the teacher/student ratio you speak of come from?  I have had three kids at two different D100 elementary schools over the last nine years.  Never was a class size smaller than 25-28 students per class.

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[Ted]

Ted,  where did the teacher/student ratio you speak of come from?  I have had three kids at two different D100 elementary schools over the last nine years.  Never was a class size smaller than 25-28 students per class.

    I picked 20 per classroom as an ideal or average.  I think the teacher contract also limits the number per teacher.

  I just looked at the IIRC site and you're right.  The average in 2012 was around 23 to 25 per classroom in grades 1 to 5 and around 20 to 22 for grades 6 to 8.

  But, that means there should be even less teachers.  At 25 teachers per classroom and 4,000 kids, that is 160 teachers as the minimum.

  So, why does the district have 278 teachers in 2012?

[chandasz]

The 2 teachers per classroom are only in rooms where there are special needs kids. One of the 2 teachers is a special ed teacher.

Central location for special needs? Really? Why don't we just completely marginalize them. One of Berwyn's best features is it's special needs programs. Having integrated classrooms benefits the kids with special needs as well as the average and above average ones. They learn from each other.

I am very curious to see- after a couple years of full day kindergarten- what benefits we show. You are proposing to cut educational benefits that would injure our kids-- no full day kindergarten- no preschool. Can't get behind you on that.

Ted-- have you gone to the school board with your questions on teacher/student ratio? On Stan Fields' questionable spending?

So-- with the cost cutting you are recommending-- how do any of these costs benefit the kids? How will this better education in our community and make this a more desirable place for families to want to move to. A place that is seen as a safe investment in their future. How will  this increase our home values?

[Ted]

So-- with the cost cutting you are recommending-- how do any of these costs benefit the kids? How will this better education in our community and make this a more desirable place for families to want to move to. A place that is seen as a safe investment in their future. How will  this increase our home values?

  They don't benefit kids.  I agree they would injure kids. Any efforts to balance the budget is going to hurt kids - one way or another.

  You made the statement that the current budget is bareboned.  I am pointing out that it is not bareboned.

  If the district wants these initiatives, it has to have the money to pay for them.  It does not.

As for 2 teachers in a classroom, that is why I proposed a centralized school for special ed kids.

As for Stan Fields spending habits, it is just something I just recently found out about.  The board knows about it - they can see the Accounts Payable log just as clearly as I can.  They should do something about it if they want the referenda to pass.

  One more thing - if the district had $50 million dollars in its reserve funds, then a $6 million dollar deficit on a $40 million dollar revenue stream would not bother me as much.

the problem is the district has only $12 million dollars in its reserve funds and is expecting a $6 million dollar deficit.

  Am I the only one to see the insanity in that?

[OakParkSpartan]

Ted,  where did the teacher/student ratio you speak of come from?  I have had three kids at two different D100 elementary schools over the last nine years.  Never was a class size smaller than 25-28 students per class.

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From the first paragraph of his argument.  Thin air.

Ted, your entire focus in this thread is about cutting costs and things that you think the district is doing wrong.

I may have missed it, but very little focus (other than Chandez) is given to actually EDUCATING the kids and the results produced.

You are feeding directly into the old Berwyn way of thinking that has kept school funding at embarrassingly low levels.