Wednesday, May 5, 2010

What I Wish For

Author:
Loudoun County School Board Chair John Stevens believes our challenges don’t all stem from budget limitations, but rather from the focus of the whole system of education. Stevens believes we need to give teachers more flexibility in how they teach; principals more latitude in the structure of the school day and year; and parents more options of schools for their children to attend.
The article includes more from me, and from the School Superintendents of Loudoun and Fairfax Counties, and the Fairfax County Board Chair.

For what it's worth, I fully endorse their wish lists too.

[I Am Modern]
Labels: ,

17 comments:

  1. What I would wish for:

    - Someone to tell me what Dr. Hatrick is going to be paid the next 4 years

    - FLES to go away

    - Bus Drivers not stopping at Starbucks, Burger King and McDonalds in the morning or at lunch

    - LCPS Administrative personnel actually driving their own cars to and from work. Instead of parking their county cars (why do they have those again) from a school near their homes

    - It not being always about how the teachers are getting screwed when there are just as many hard working janitors, lunch ladies, HVAC techs and bus drivers who are also getting screwed as well
    ReplyDelete
  2. ...for the School Board to take responsibility for the financial mess we find ourselves in.

    ...for Hatrick to stop pitting teachers against taxpayers and make sensible decisions about how the money alloted is spent.

    ...I also want to know what Hatricks salary is going to be.
    ReplyDelete
  3. Sorry, but Suzy IS bored because she is so far ahead of the class. LCPS does the bare minimum required by law in terms of gifted education. Gifted education in Loudoun is a complete joke. Kids in elementary school are left to be bored until middle school when finally advanced education is available to them.
    ReplyDelete
  4. Enjoying your blog as always. Thank you.

    I wish for two days of next year's pay back. The furlough days have been a real kick in the stomach to teachers and staff, who work so hard and often spend their own money and volunteer their personal time to help out at school events.

    I know that economic times are tough, but when the economy rebounds people will go back to work and get raises, bonuses and promotions. We don't get those perks as teachers, nor am I asking for them. I just want to be able to count on a fair salary that is adjusted as the cost of living increases and my experience in the classroom grows.

    But maybe that is asking too much...
    ReplyDelete
  5. Dr. Hatrick's salary is a matter of public record. It is $232,680 which is about average considering the size of our district which educates over 50,000 students a year. He makes 1/2 of what Dale and Wiest earn.

    His contract gets discussed at public meetings when it is up for renewal, which will be in July.

    Say what you want about Hatrick but he cares about our community and our kids.

    Salary info:http://www.loudouni.com/education/2009-06-17/supt-hatrick%E2%80%99s-salary-232680-unchanged-2008-09

    Average Superintendent salaries: http://www.aasa.org/content.aspx?id=3030
    ReplyDelete
  6. Jacquelyn, I'm afraid you are wrong. Hatrick was just given a 4 year new contract, but the salary is still being negotiated. http://www.leesburg2day.com/articles/2010/01/06/schools/9451chair010610.txt)

    But don't worry, no matter what his salary, he's still getting a $25,000 tax deferred annuity; an $11,843 vehicle allowance, to increase by 4 percent annually; and a $5,000 life insurance policy contribution.
    ReplyDelete
  7. The first thing that should go are all the cars that county workers and school system employees drive that are not "essential". Yeah, getting a company car or at least a car allowance is a nice perk when times are good, but when times are tough, get rid of them.

    I'd like to know how much this fleet of cars is costing us every year.
    ReplyDelete
  8. Jacquelyn...WRONG AGAIN!!!

    http://www.loudouni.com/education/2009-06-17/supt-hatrick%E2%80%99s-salary-232680-unchanged-2008-09

    Salary

    Hatrick $226,564
    Dale (Fairfax) $279.340
    Weast (Montgomery) $242,686

    Total Compensation
    Hatrick $341,531
    Dale $419,612
    Weast $489,763

    PLUS, Dale and Weast manage 3 times the students and 2 1/2 times schools and employees. But somehow Dr. Hatrick DESERVES nearly as MUCH AS THEM???? PLEASSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSEEEE
    ReplyDelete
  9. Hey, Jacquelyn just did what Hatrick is so good at - apples to oranges comparisons. She compared Hatrick's salary to the total compensation of the other superintendents. Thanks for pointing out the facts, Anon @ 11:20!
    ReplyDelete
  10. what I wish for..... NO FURLOUGH DAYS, I am not a teacher.. but I do work for the school system. I can NOT afford to lose pay.
    ReplyDelete
  11. What I wish for - for Hatrick and his minions on the School Board to finally wake up and smell the coffee and trim out the fat we all know is there. But hey, why do that we can they can still play around with summer school and furloughs to rile up the troops to keep howling for more, more, more money from we the taxpayers?
    ReplyDelete
  12. Fed up, at the high school level there is no gifted ed. AP and Honors classes used to be for the best and brightest and now those classes are populated with average students.
    ReplyDelete
  13. I wish (and wonder) by administration in buildings (including principles, guidance directors, etc) get reimbursed for miles driving to meetings, while teachers don't. I wish that someone would have taken the time to add up all the little things to see if they add up to enough before cutting the big things(like salary)
    ReplyDelete
  14. There is a program for the so called "gifted" high school students-- it is called Thomas Jefferson and Dominion. AP and honors is for EVERYONE- anything wrong with wanting to be challenged and excel??
    I suppose you have a problem with my special education child taking honors classes??
    ReplyDelete
  15. There are many students, some even special ed. and others general education, who are better placed in academic rather than honors classes.
    ReplyDelete
  16. "There is a program for the so called "gifted" high school students-- it is called Thomas Jefferson and Dominion. AP and honors is for EVERYONE- anything wrong with wanting to be challenged and excel??
    I suppose you have a problem with my special education child taking honors classes??"

    TJ and AOS are for students interested in math and science.

    Just because a student is special ed doesn't necessarily mean that he/she has average or below average intelligence.

    It is a fact that many AP and Honors class students are not interested in working/studying/being challenged. Many are pushed in by parents or feel the pressure in order to get into certain colleges.
    ReplyDelete
  17. Now that it is almost 1 year later, I would be very interested in having a followup to this article and post to discuss which of the wishes in the article have been accomplished and/or what work has been done to that end. Can you start a new post with your take on this?
    ReplyDelete

Subscribe to: Post Comments (Atom)