In today's edition of the NY Times, on page 16 (and available online http://www.nytimes.com/2011/07/17/nyregion/to-save-jobs-union-approves-big-concessions-in-deal-with-cuomo.html?_r=1&scp=1&sq=thomas%20kaplan&st=cse) there is a most interesting article regarding a 55,000 member union, the Public Employees Federation, which has come to agreement with New York State on a number of cost-saving measures in order for them to protect the jobs of members.
Imagine that; they understand that government now has a limited amount of money available for pay and benefits, and can either pay the full freight, the whole kahuna, the max package, to a smaller number of workers, or they can pay a reduced amount to a larger number of workers.
Gee, I wish that Elwood's teachers union had appreciated that concept; we could have avoided most of the layoffs of younger teachers that our district was forced to let go, after Elwood Teachers Alliance declined to give a no-future-benefit tie-in concession to our Board of Education and District.
As stated in the article, the Public Employees Federation "...agreed to forgo across-the-board raises for three years, accept furlough days for the first time and increase the amount members contribute toward their health insurance coverage."
The article went on to state that “This was a difficult agreement to reach, but with our members’ jobs in peril and the state’s fiscal hardship, we’ve stepped up and made the necessary sacrifices,” Mr. Brynien [note: Kenneth Brynien is the union president] said in a statement. “The agreement will preserve our members’ jobs and careers while bringing long-term fiscal stability to the state.”
The article is certainly worth reading.
Sunday, July 17, 2011
New Item in District Headlines Offers Analysis and Directio
[Originally transmitted to Elwood Community Network on 7/9]
In checking the website of the Elwood School District, this afternoon, I noticed that the latest posting is that of the statement made at last Tuesday's BOE meeting.
For your convenience I have pasted the item below, but you can also access it from the "Headlines" section of the Home Page, STATEMENT FROM THE BOARD OF EDUCATION PRESENTED AT THE REORGANIZATION MEETING JULY 5TH, 2011.
I find myself in particular agreement with the following part, in the fourth paragraph, of that statement:
"Unfortunately, as many of you know, local boards of education do not have much say in the majority of their budget expenditures. Laws that foster entitlements, Last In First Out legislation over merit, one-sided bargaining rules, and the growth of state legislated mandated expenses, in combination with the reduction of state aid, are crippling our ability to provide the full breadth of education that all children deserve."
Of course, if I had been asked to write a statement for the Board, I would have added a sentence to their second paragraph, to very specifically address the missing elephant from the room of those staff members who really cared. But, I tend to be more candid than most people, and less solicitous of those who understand much more about taking than giving.
The Board's statement goes on to address the fiscal challenges which the Board, and the District, and the students, residents and taxpayers, and many staff members, all faced head-on in April and May of this year, and begins steps in an effort to address the problems which all school districts face in New York.
It is certainly worth your review, and consideration.
Jerry Hannon
............................................
STATEMENT FROM THE BOARD OF EDUCATION PRESENTED AT THE REORGANIZATION MEETING JULY 5TH, 2011
Dear Community Members,
The Board of Education is very happy that the budget passed, and we thank you all for the support.
We, personally, and as a Board, want to thank those members of our staff who responded to the Board of Education’s request to follow the lead of our Superintendent and Central Office Administrators to cut increases or freeze compensation in the upcoming year - a sincere thank you to all.
The Board of Education put forward this budget, although we did so with great concern. The Board recognizes that 7.98% increases are not sustainable.
Unfortunately, as many of you know, local boards of education do not have much say in the majority of their budget expenditures. Laws that foster entitlements, Last In First Out legislation over merit, one-sided bargaining rules, and the growth of state legislated mandated expenses, in combination with the reduction of state aid, are crippling our ability to provide the full breadth of education that all children deserve. This is something that must change. We will not and cannot wait until December or January to see the cards we have been dealt by Albany and hope that we can deliver a reasonably low percentage [tax levy] increase next year.
We need to pressure Albany and our local legislators that represent us in Albany now to legislate structural changes that will improve education, not diminish it, while helping us lower expenses and find revenues from sources outside of the tax base. We must rise up as a community and demand progressive thinking and action in NY State that is long overdue. Moreover, we must keep that pressure applied until we accomplish our goals.
Please join us in letting our local representatives from Albany know how we feel. We are in the process of organizing an interested group that will work parallel to official BOE efforts for those who wish to make the voice of Elwood heard. This organization will be formed and operated outside of our Board of Education umbrella, although Board members, as well as former Board members, will be engaged as personal volunteers in this movement.
Nikki Crowley and Melissa Maher will be gathering names, phone numbers, and email addresses after the meeting from anyone who would like to join this organized effort.
In May 2011, a proud Elwood community stood up and displayed a tremendous commitment to the education of children with a generosity that defines our character. Simply put, we took care of our children; however, we did not take care of our problems. The Board of Education, together with the support of our community, is willing and ready to fight the fight against those who threaten our mission; that is our children’s opportunity to have a competitive, well-rounded education.
We must take action and tell Albany how we feel and more importantly, tell them what we need. We will not stand by… We do not want to raise taxes while diminishing education. Please join the effort.
Thank you,
Joseph Fusaro, President
Members of Elwood Union Free School District’s Board of Education
In checking the website of the Elwood School District, this afternoon, I noticed that the latest posting is that of the statement made at last Tuesday's BOE meeting.
For your convenience I have pasted the item below, but you can also access it from the "Headlines" section of the Home Page, STATEMENT FROM THE BOARD OF EDUCATION PRESENTED AT THE REORGANIZATION MEETING JULY 5TH, 2011.
I find myself in particular agreement with the following part, in the fourth paragraph, of that statement:
"Unfortunately, as many of you know, local boards of education do not have much say in the majority of their budget expenditures. Laws that foster entitlements, Last In First Out legislation over merit, one-sided bargaining rules, and the growth of state legislated mandated expenses, in combination with the reduction of state aid, are crippling our ability to provide the full breadth of education that all children deserve."
Of course, if I had been asked to write a statement for the Board, I would have added a sentence to their second paragraph, to very specifically address the missing elephant from the room of those staff members who really cared. But, I tend to be more candid than most people, and less solicitous of those who understand much more about taking than giving.
The Board's statement goes on to address the fiscal challenges which the Board, and the District, and the students, residents and taxpayers, and many staff members, all faced head-on in April and May of this year, and begins steps in an effort to address the problems which all school districts face in New York.
It is certainly worth your review, and consideration.
Jerry Hannon
............................................
STATEMENT FROM THE BOARD OF EDUCATION PRESENTED AT THE REORGANIZATION MEETING JULY 5TH, 2011
Dear Community Members,
The Board of Education is very happy that the budget passed, and we thank you all for the support.
We, personally, and as a Board, want to thank those members of our staff who responded to the Board of Education’s request to follow the lead of our Superintendent and Central Office Administrators to cut increases or freeze compensation in the upcoming year - a sincere thank you to all.
The Board of Education put forward this budget, although we did so with great concern. The Board recognizes that 7.98% increases are not sustainable.
Unfortunately, as many of you know, local boards of education do not have much say in the majority of their budget expenditures. Laws that foster entitlements, Last In First Out legislation over merit, one-sided bargaining rules, and the growth of state legislated mandated expenses, in combination with the reduction of state aid, are crippling our ability to provide the full breadth of education that all children deserve. This is something that must change. We will not and cannot wait until December or January to see the cards we have been dealt by Albany and hope that we can deliver a reasonably low percentage [tax levy] increase next year.
We need to pressure Albany and our local legislators that represent us in Albany now to legislate structural changes that will improve education, not diminish it, while helping us lower expenses and find revenues from sources outside of the tax base. We must rise up as a community and demand progressive thinking and action in NY State that is long overdue. Moreover, we must keep that pressure applied until we accomplish our goals.
Please join us in letting our local representatives from Albany know how we feel. We are in the process of organizing an interested group that will work parallel to official BOE efforts for those who wish to make the voice of Elwood heard. This organization will be formed and operated outside of our Board of Education umbrella, although Board members, as well as former Board members, will be engaged as personal volunteers in this movement.
Nikki Crowley and Melissa Maher will be gathering names, phone numbers, and email addresses after the meeting from anyone who would like to join this organized effort.
In May 2011, a proud Elwood community stood up and displayed a tremendous commitment to the education of children with a generosity that defines our character. Simply put, we took care of our children; however, we did not take care of our problems. The Board of Education, together with the support of our community, is willing and ready to fight the fight against those who threaten our mission; that is our children’s opportunity to have a competitive, well-rounded education.
We must take action and tell Albany how we feel and more importantly, tell them what we need. We will not stand by… We do not want to raise taxes while diminishing education. Please join the effort.
Thank you,
Joseph Fusaro, President
Members of Elwood Union Free School District’s Board of Education
Sunday, July 3, 2011
What Matters Most? The Students, or....
Sometime between Friday afternoon and Sunday morning (entries on the District's website are not time-dated, and I do not check it daily), the Elwood School District posted a very important notice.
Those of you who followed the activities of this year's extraordinarily difficult budget-setting process know how hard the Board worked to creatively find ways to retain as much educational content as possible, even while being forced by economic circumstances to cut back the Kindergarten program from Full-Day to Half-Day.
But, you may also remember the dialogue, chiefly among former Ass't Sup't for Human Resources Ron Friedman, and Superintendent Peter Scordo, and Trustee Dan Ciccone, regarding the possibility of teachers union impediments to the Board's creative proposals.
In other words, for the proposals to succeed it would require the consent -- or at least the non-objection -- of the teachers union, which also means that they would have to put the interests of the kindergarten students, and their parents, and the welfare of the District and its residents, ahead of their own parochial interests.
Interestingly, though I'm not sure whether it is from a sense of realizing the irony or instead a more disturbing observation of the possible cynicism, you may also recall that when Full Day Kindergarten was being pushed, very hard, from a Harley perspective, former Principal Virginia Cancroft invited a number of her teachers, on various occasions, to address the Board and the community. Several of those teachers expressed a view that a Full Day Kindergarten program was important for those children who might otherwise lag a bit behind their peers, and that having additional time and an opportunity for extra learning could be essential.
However, with the teachers union's recent rejection of any "no-strings-attached" creative use of teaching assistants, to educationally supplement the necessitated reduction to a Half Day Program, one would have to question whether the original rationale was actually more important for the students, or more important for the teachers union and their members.
The memo, in its depressing candor, is provided, below, in its entirety, for your convenient reference.
As is made clear in the referenced letter from attorney John Gross, which one can obtain by clicking the link through the website announcement, in order to achieve this creative modification, the District would instead have to negotiate a separate agreement with our teachers union, Elwood Teachers Alliance, and I would roughly translate that as "give the union something else" in order for the kids to get a break.
So much for the role of creativity and caring about the children.
.................................................
[Notice posted on the District website]
Sometime between Friday afternoon and Sunday morning (entries on the District's website are not time-dated, and I do not check it daily), the Elwood School District posted a very important notice.
Those of you who followed the activities of this year's extraordinarily difficult budget-setting process know how hard the Board worked to creatively find ways to retain as much educational content as possible, even while being forced by economic circumstances to cut back the Kindergarten program from Full-Day to Half-Day.
But, you may also remember the dialogue, chiefly among former Ass't Sup't for Human Resources Ron Friedman, and Superintendent Peter Scordo, and Trustee Dan Ciccone, regarding the possibility of teachers union impediments to the Board's creative proposals.
In other words, for the proposals to succeed it would require the consent -- or at least the non-objection -- of the teachers union, which also means that they would have to put the interests of the kindergarten students, and their parents, and the welfare of the District and its residents, ahead of their own parochial interests.
Interestingly, though I'm not sure whether it is from a sense of realizing the irony or instead a more disturbing observation of the possible cynicism, you may also recall that when Full Day Kindergarten was being pushed, very hard, from a Harley perspective, former Principal Virginia Cancroft invited a number of her teachers, on various occasions, to address the Board and the community. Several of those teachers expressed a view that a Full Day Kindergarten program was important for those children who might otherwise lag a bit behind their peers, and that having additional time and an opportunity for extra learning could be essential.
However, with the teachers union's recent rejection of any "no-strings-attached" creative use of teaching assistants, to educationally supplement the necessitated reduction to a Half Day Program, one would have to question whether the original rationale was actually more important for the students, or more important for the teachers union and their members.
The memo, in its depressing candor, is provided, below, in its entirety, for your convenient reference.
As is made clear in the referenced letter from attorney John Gross, which one can obtain by clicking the link through the website announcement, in order to achieve this creative modification, the District would instead have to negotiate a separate agreement with our teachers union, Elwood Teachers Alliance, and I would roughly translate that as "give the union something else" in order for the kids to get a break.
So much for the role of creativity and caring about the children.
.................................................
[Notice posted on the District website]
Kindergarten Update
As many community members are aware, the 2011-12 budget approved by voters in mid-May calls for a reduction in the district’s kindergarten program from the current full-day program to a half-day session.
An innovative and cost-effective solution was sought by the Board of Education that would minimize this partial loss of program by moving forward with a supplemental half-day “Kinder-skills” session that utilized teaching assistants instead of teachers. The teaching assistants would appropriately be supervised by a teacher as well as building and central administration.
Unfortunately, this program met opposition from the Elwood Teachers’ Alliance, and after extensive investigation and consultation with legal counsel, we have been advised that this option is not possible because it would be formally challenged as an improper work practice under the existing collective bargaining agreement (you can read the attorney memo here). Furthermore, based on precedent, it is likely that defending this challenge would be costly and, ultimately, unsuccessful.
We are disappointed by the loss of our full-day kindergarten program, but acknowledge that difficult choices must be made under the financial circumstances that exist. We will continue to explore creative ways of implementing important programs for our students and hope that the entire school community will embrace new endeavors in the future.
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