This is what we are up against. This is what we have to prepare our children for. This is reality – we can’t sit back and rest on our laurels. We can’t have anyone on staff who is not critical to the goal of educating our children. We can’t afford to spend money on parents or fluff – we MUST take full responsibility and use every dime to educate the children of DeKalb. They deserve to be fully prepared for the world in which they will live.
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No offense… but saying “We can’t have anyone on staff who is not critical to the goal of educating our children” is a bit short-sighted. Staff in payroll that ensure that teachers & others get paid aren’t critical to educating children, but teachers won’t work without getting paid. Staff in accounting that ensure bills are paid aren’t critical to educating children, but vendors will stop selling books & supplies to the district if they never get their money. Bus drivers and mechanics aren’t critical since kids could walk or parents could drive them (yeah right.)
People that oversee the construction projects aren’t critical. Neither are the people that work in the warehouse.
Lumping all the non-instructional staff in with each other does a disservice to those who support the education of children in their own way – without actually stepping foot in the classroom.
@Insider: Correct. If someone is responsible for teachers getting paid, they are critical to the goal. We do have to wonder why SPLOST construction managers and leaders are paid from the general operating fund and not from the SPLOST fund. That’s a lot of money.
BTW Insider: We were wondering if you watched the video or just commented on our text… The video is very powerful — regardless of how you view our editorial comments.
How many schoolboard members does it take….to screw in a light bulb?…now are these Elected or Appointed schoolboard members?…appointed by Governor Nathan Deal, ? “Zero , they prefer to stay in the dark”
I don’t think anyone would argue that payroll staff, construction and maintenance and maybe a few other administrative things that we need in order to function as institutions aren’t critical. I think that what rang true for me was the fact that for the past few years the professional, capable staff In our building site has taken the constant changes and little and confusing direction from the district on curriculum and through professional team work have been able to able to build great standard based curriculums ( pieced together from the scraps the district gave us and a lot of shared copying responsibilities.) To think that someone is getting paid a huge salary for what we are are doing as dedicated capable teachers at the school site is simply wasteful. The key is to attract and retain dedicated, committed smart professionals in your schools.
@disenchanted
I understand how you feel and sometimes you have to focus on the lives that you get to positively impact everyday and the grateful parents to continue to work for this system but to be honest about your point about union presence on these issues. ,they can only do so much in a non -collective bargaining state and don’t misunderstand me , my intention is not to be political. I know many of you out there love our red state just the way it is but the fact is when you are not obligated to be invited to the table then all you are , are noisy sign holders and some administrators can teach a class in ignoring those. I am a member for solely legal representation only when and if I ever need it. If they ever got rid of that service, God help them. That is not to say that if we were a collective bargaining state that we wouldn’t be having a different discussion about why people think teachers are more protected than what serves the best interest of children . It can simply be one extreme or the other and we are simply living on the other end of that extreme. I think that what has been stated many times in this blog, we are in the residual effects of corrupt, outdated and self serving governing and the economic crisis was a light to the fuse . After that mess, I think people expect some residuals but are discouraged when they see the same characters with different faces. It will take the right people doing the right things and will not allow themselves to be corrupted. I could nominate some people from this blog:
Howdy are you busy?
Dekalb lite are you busy ?
Dekalb School Watch monitor are you busy?
We need you on the board? Let’s start there.
I am sorry I posted on the wrong discussion, disenchanted was expressing her frustration with union involvement and the corruption of the system on the blog about whether or not we should be apart of social change . So many great hot button topics I made that mistake:)