A Few Comments From Old Site
Submitted by Allen Gwinn on Wed, 08/20/2008 - 14:45.
When we were porting old content to the new website, there were several comments in the queue that we hadn't processed. We'll add them here to get things kicked off.
- Login or register to post comments
- Printer-friendly version
- Stumble
Everyone Needs a Raise
I work in an office and everything falls on me, the Administrative Assistant. All paperwork in the office is given to the support staff to process. All and any questions regarding material, workshop, training, correspondence, and purchasing all items are done by support staff. The support staff runs the office and department. The Specialist and Director,all come to the support staff for answers and to get reports out. Every document that leaves an office, a support staff has handle that paperwork in some form or shape to be processed and sent out. We the support staff are the foundation of this school district. Just let all the custodians not open the building for
the first day of school. Let the cafeteria workers not cook any food for breakfast and lunch for the children, just in case they are able to get into the school. If the office workers did not show to answer the phone and fill out paper work and process documents or greet the student and parents. If security did not show up to protect the teachers and student and the parking lot just in case the students were in school. What if the teachers did not show up to teach the class. If all the workers in Dallas ISD did not show up for work on the first day of school and then after, what would happen. Directors and higher ups only give out orders the staff does the work. The raises should be base on your work load and your expertise of job performance and your years of experience not that you only have a high school education. Most educated people seat behind desk and only give out request and demand. They are clueless of what really takes place in an office.
TEEG Grant Nightmare
Everyone needs a raise but that is NOT the purpose of the TEEG grant. We are negotiating our school's TEEG grant for the next two years. It is a NIGHTMARE! You can't please everyone. Plus, many support staff members do not understand it is a grant for STUDENT ACHIEVEMENT. Oh yes, it sounds great! We have the potential to distribute $75,000 to all staff members but only 25% max can go to support staff/non-teaching positions. That group of employees is almost guaranteed of "earning" their money. However, the TAKS teachers and K-2 teachers rely on their students' TEST SCORES to determine if they will be "rewarded" for their performance. It's all or nothing for the teachers involved. So, while you may feel you deserve "MORE" in performance pay, support staff are "PAID" to do their job as are teachers. The TEEG, Texas "EDUCATOR" Excellence Grant provides money for increased student achievement.
It would be nice to go home each night without the STRESS of worrying about the consequences if the "right" percentage of my students did not meet standard on the TAKS. Performance pay...that is not on my mind and is truly a bonus if by LOTS of hard work 70% of my students Pass the TAKS. Would you want to be the "teacher" responsible for moving your campus to the status of "Academically Unacceptable" because 1 less student did not meet success on TAKS? I think not.
I don't like the idea of creating the TEEG plan at the campus level. I don't like the idea of sending all that money back to TEA. I don't like hearing people say the plan doesn't give them enough money. I don't like hearing people say the plan gives easy money to others. I don't like people feeling we do not value their work. I don't like feeling that people do not value MY work.
There has to be a better way. Take us out of this nightmare!!!
Spot On
The district is moving in that direction, that is pay for performance. One of things that is being done to address that is through the TEEG grant money paid by the state, schools can choose to reward support staff with bonuses based on meeting performance goals, individually and as a campus.
The flip side of that is that everyone deserves a tax hike. An increase in pay, means an increase in taxes paid to support the raise.
It is also good to note, that while support staff in Texas can not be fully unionized, they enjoy a great deal of protection under Texas law that is not afforded to workers of similar status in the private sector. Most notably the grievence process, and several steps of process needed to "Transition to a another career" to those deemed unworthy, that are not normally provided to a person working in an "at will" capacity.
Most wonderfully, if you feel are underpaid and underappreciated for what you do, you can work somewhere else. While it difficult to for the district to terminate an employee that is not working out, it is fairly simple for an employee not to show up for work and get another job.
Now, here is the kicker, when you choose to work for the government, you are doing a "Public Service". That is why you get special treatment as outlined above.
When everyone does not show up for work, things go very bad. So, it is important to do your job, your duty, regardless of the circumstance.
Braver and younger folks than me choose to do this service by serving in military, police department, or fire and rescue.
They are expected to do it as a duty, not a job.
What you do is valuable, because things will fall apart without you doing them, and the better you do them, the better things will work, but it will not always get you the pay you want.
The Lone Ranger did not ask folks for his fee for service before he rode off into the sunset...
I watched the footage of the events today at the convocation, and I saw a District that is still working hard to get where it needs to be. Dalton, said many things that need to be heard and felt. As the keynote speaker, he should also have a trust fund dedicated to his or his siblings education established on par with a previous keynote speakers have garnered from speaking.
If you are the kind of person who looks deeper into things, the speakers box was in the middle of the space and had no podium... read into that what you will.
Dr. Hinojosa was also looking for buy in at several places and the Mayor was a stronger speaker. Dr. Hinojosa looked at times uncomfortable, he was wringing his hands and twisting his wedding rings, and recognized that some folks are still upset over his reforms.
The district, it showed up and showed up strong and ready. It was moving to see all of them in the spirit colors filling the arena.
What he left unsaid, is that we will be asked to more, with less, for less. Maybe, he did say it when he said they would start working on the budget for next year in October.
What you do is not for the boss or a paycheck, it is for the children of Dallas. They will show up, will you?
If you do not, work somewhere else. If you want to make it better, than do it on the job.
Falsification on Resume
Has anyone thought of filing an OPR allegation against Ms. Viramontes for lying/omitting information on her resume--that's how they got rid of the Assistant Police Chief for DISD last year. I do believe they have people in the Buckner Building who review ethics concerns and assign investigators. Oh wait, the ethics review director is the SISTER of the Northeast Learning Community Leader....Hello, Pot? This is Kettle. Wow, DISD stuff is getting deeper every day!!!!
[Ed Note: We were unable to find anywhere that she falsified her resume.]
Collins is just lucky he
Collins is just lucky he didn't get prosecuted for that.
J.L. Long Leadership
Does good leadership really make a difference? It appears to some interested parties that the race goes neither to the swift nor the strong, but to the good looking. We admit that the young female leadership at J.L. Long over the past several years have looked darn good in photos, for sure. But now that we are faced with yet another new administration, some of us are prepared to trade eye candy for real leadership. We would like to see the progress that Long has made over the past year and particularly over the summer continue. There is growing momentum and enthusiasm under the interim principal. Without good discipline, the prognosis is poor. We encourage the DISD to take the opportunity to name a principal who has what it takes to win the admiration and loyalty of a generation of students, parents and teachers.
It has come to the attention of this observer today that one Danielle Petters has been tentatively named to the position of Principal of J.L. Long Middle School over the acting, interim principal. The buzz is that Ms. Petters has a track record which includes successful teaching and administrative appointments. In addition, Ms. Petters has a reputation for bullying teachers at more than one school in order to elicit preferential treatment for her own child. We also hear that she failed to inform Mr. Castro, the area superintendant, that she and her husband pulled their own child out of J.L. Long last year. This after making it known that they were unhappy with the school regarding thier son's performance, or lack thereof, in addition to (not surprisingly) discipline issues there.
Do we think that her failure to disclose was an intentional attempt to hide a fact that could influence the decision against her? Yes. Is this tantamount to lying on her resume? Yes. Did she support J. L. Long in solving its problems last year? No. Did she view the parent/teacher relationship as a collaborative one? It seems not. Does all of this add up to a candidate who has the best interest of our children at heart?
Misgivings have been voiced by PTA members, active Long advocates, staffers, neighbors and faculty who have had dealings with Ms. Petters in the past. The Long instructional leadership team, which has been working with the interim principal, reportedly spoke highly of his work there and recommended him to Emilio Castro. The word is very positive, and he is in place. One source indicated the scales were tipped in favor of Ms. Petters via her personal relationships both at Woodrow Wilson, and "at church." It is rumored that close associates were involved in the selection committee. Foul ball if this is the case! The district doesn't need any more scandal, elitism, nepotism, favoritism, flashes-in-the-pan, and etc.
Good leadership does make a difference, and we recommend that now that Mr. Castro has been informed of the facts, he will make the decision that is in the best interest of the school.
Castro and Long
I would watch out for Castro if I were you. Talk about someone who does not report the facts. He was part of the problem at Hill, but I guess he must have been too busy working on his PHd being paid for by the taxpayers. I have only heard great things about Mrs. Petters and the fact that she is committed to the community is a plus. Her staying at Long is the in the best interest of the school.
castro
Do not expcet any help from Castro. He has a history of making poor choices for leadership positions.He brought Conteras to Hill and Davies to Spence.Disd needs to send to send him up the ladder,like they allways do,and get a compendent person to work with the schools!!