Dearborn School Supt. and School Improvement Plan
Dearborn Schools Supt. Brian Whiston, who, among other things, needs to find a way to negotiate a new contract with Dearborn school teachers, took some time out to pen the column below and send it here to DeepsaidWhat.com
With the Dearborn teachers union already filing a complaint with the state, alleging the district is no longer trying to negotiate a new contract, the timing of his column is curious.
Whiston’s column begins below:
Supt. Brian Whiston
A big Detroit parade, a classic football game, and a traditional family dinner; these are just a few November events that I enjoy. However, events like these don’t just happen, they require planning! Even a big family meal must be planned in advance. Great events, big achievements, and sustained traditions don’t just occur they require a process to ensure they happen and keep getting better each year.
In Dearborn, we too have a process in place to make sure that the long tradition of excellence in the classroom continues. The School Improvement Plan is a year long course of action that all schools embark on in the fall and complete in the spring. Because one size doesn’t fit all, students learn differently, and for every student who needs extra help there is a student that needs to be challenged beyond the curriculum; a School Improvement Plan, that utilizes data and other indicators of student performance, is a proven method to describe how a school will address the different learning needs of each student.
The first part of the school improvement process is the evaluation of goals. School goals for the year are determined by a team consisting of the building principal, teachers, para-pros, and, in most cases, parents. Each school improvement team meets with the District school improvement team, which is a group of central office and building administrators, to present their plans and goals.
Mid-year the District school improvement team will visit each school to talk with staff and visit classrooms. They will look for evidence that the school is working toward the goals set in the fall. If needed, goals are adjusted to better meet the academic needs of the students.
Finally, in the spring, a celebration takes place as all school improvement teams gather at one location to showcase their accomplishments to the Board of Education and community. At the celebration, schools will share ideas and programs that helped them meet their goals. They will also discuss practices or challenges that kept them from meeting a goal either in part or in full.
After summer recess the process begins again in the fall. This continuous cycle of school improvement has been going on in the district for five years and has had positive results in the classroom.
Great success happens when there is great planning. In classrooms throughout our district students are making academic gains because a dedicated staff is actively involved in a system of planning. A system that keeps our schools improving and student achievement the focus of all staff members.
November 10th, 2010 at 8:34 pm
Ask Supt. Whiston about the more than 100 grand DPS just spent on an ID system for the buses WITHOUT checking to see if it was compatible with the students’ IDs. Then ask him why a former employee of the district is getting an 80 grand stipend to negotiate the contract. Then ask him about the email just sent by Mustonen asking district employees to sign a petition to stop a family from being deported. Then ask him why an associate supt. is in charge of driving to each HS and hand delivering dual enrollment apps to HFCC.
November 10th, 2010 at 9:18 pm
Is it great planning that has 32 students in elementary school class rooms?
Is it great planning that has my child switch to a split classroom half way through the year?
Is it great planning to have children switch teachers mid year, twice in two years?
Is it great planning to have 19 late starts this year?
The only great planning I see is how I will plan on paying for Catholic School.
There is a Free Market solution to the ineptitude of the Dearborn Board of Education.
It is called Divine Child, ST. Sebastian, Sacred Heart etc.
What has been happening in this school district is absolutely beyond the pale.
The members of the school board who allow classrooms to reach 32 students in elementary classrooms are beyond incompetent, they are dangerous. Continue to think what you are doing is great planning, the results speak otherwise.
November 10th, 2010 at 11:23 pm
Dearborn Christian School is a great alternative. Small classes, great teachers, parent-run, not church run, affordable. Preschool-8.
November 11th, 2010 at 11:12 am
Just to let you know, Charter schools are also out there. I know children who go to them and absolutely love them. They are free, and from the people with whom I have spoken, they are a great alternative.
On the other side of the coin, I went to Catholic school. My first grade class was a split class of 1st and 2nd graders. The average number of students in the other classes in the school was in the mid thirties. We received an excellent education.
I have always believed that you can get an excellent education at a mediocre school or a bad education at a great school. It all depends on the student and their family.
The only way that children will get a good education is to have dedicated parents and teachers.
November 11th, 2010 at 2:48 pm
Cloe, your last sentence says it all!!
November 11th, 2010 at 4:29 pm
Bull S…. Not one person with one ounce of brain cells thinks you can get an education with 32 kids in an elementary school classroom. As for charters only 1 in 5 charters preforms at or above public schools. Catholic Schools can have higher student teacher ratios for one reason you f up your gone. This school board is the worst excuse of a public body in Dearborn. The members of this school board are simply over their head.
November 11th, 2010 at 11:33 pm
Reality Bites, you need to take a pill. Maybe two. You are so arrogant and insulting, and you don’t know as much as you think you do. All classrooms in the sixties had more than thirty students, including the public schools. There wasn’t any way around it, back then.
At St. Alphonsus we had over forty kids per classroom. We all survived and even achieved a good education. Yet, nobody is claiming that is the preferred situation now. Cloe didn’t say that.
Share your ideas, RB, but stuff your insults.
November 12th, 2010 at 1:47 pm
What elementary school has 32 kids in a class? What grades have these high class numbers?
November 12th, 2010 at 2:01 pm
Guess what the 60’s are over, and it is exactly that generation that took the worlds biggest economic surplus and squandered it.
I will gladly watch the baby boomers fight from their assisted living facilities, to claw every last penny from Gen X to pay for their Medicare.
The biggest political battle in this country is not right vs left. It will be aged baby boomers vs people who are sick and tired of coddling a generation of freeloaders.
You think 32 kids in an elementary classroom is cool, I don’t want to hear your gasps when those same kids pull the plug on your government sponsored oxygen tube.
November 12th, 2010 at 4:59 pm
Question – at the last school board they were mentioning a few class room that had over 30 students – I think it was in elementary school.
November 12th, 2010 at 6:55 pm
I’m sorry but I am not supporting any teachers who refuse to make concessions in this economy. I heard the teachers won’t take pay cuts and actually want a raise.
Good for the schoolboard! GO, GO, GO all the way to arbitration. Unlike in the past, arbitrators know there is no money to give away anymore. Just ask Police and Fire Department Unions. Many of them have had to give concessions or face layoffs. My guess is the teachers are gonna wish they settled a long time ago.
November 12th, 2010 at 8:30 pm
I teach high school and one of my classes has 34.
November 13th, 2010 at 9:04 am
As a public school teacher NOT teaching in Dearborn, I can tell you that a class size of 32 is no fun, but completely doable IF you are a GOOD teacher. While teachers will always fight for lower class sizes, research has proven that it isn’t class size that determines the quality of an education—it is the quality of the teacher. Period. Do some research on something besides charter schools Reality Bites. I’d hate a class of 32 (I teach Kindergarten and have 28 and that’s quite a bit in my cramped classroom), but I can promise you that those 32 kids would still get a great education. And just as a reminder, even if you pull your kids from DPS, you’re still going to be paying the taxes to support DPS so you might as well get some fruits from your donations!
Also, I HIGHLY doubt the teachers are refusing to take ANY concessions. I’d find that hard to believe given the economy. But if I were the teachers, I’d be fighting for the district to work on class sizes and mid-year layoffs (not permitted in my district’s contract).
November 13th, 2010 at 10:19 am
TwoSenseToo: Please get all of the information before you make that kind of statement. Teachers have made concessions for the last three years. We have been under the same contract since 2009, and have been accepting pay freezes and step freezes for years. Many teachers are laid off every single year and therefore receive no benefits over the summer. Teachers have made sacrifices, while administrators have not. Several administrators have actually gotten increases, and new administrators are added while teachers have packed classrooms.
All teachers are asking for is fairness and honesty from the school board.
November 13th, 2010 at 10:36 am
Reality Bites – Medication would be very helpful – even some anger management classes. Didn’t anyone ever hug you as a child?
Of course, I am one of those tree-hugging, money-grabbing hippies of the sixties.
No one I know that is my age or much older is in an assisted living facilities. We all have loving families, good jobs, and an optimistic view of the present and the future. Of course, you’ll probably say we all smoked pot. Sorry to disappoint you.
November 13th, 2010 at 11:53 am
I agree with MyTwoSenseToo. I have not received a raise in 3 years. My pension plan has been reduced, vacation days have been eliminated and I am paying more for insurance. Like others, I am glad to have a job. The teachers know they have to make concessions. They are just delaying it as long as possible in order to continue their current benefit package.
November 13th, 2010 at 12:49 pm
My guess as to why especially today in Dearborn, it is hard to teach the amount of students they did back in the older days (30+ per classroom) is because today Dearborn has a large amount of English challenged students as well as having a large amount of special needs children.
Because DPS has one of the finest Special Needs programs in the Metro Detroit area, many neighboring school districts send their special needs children to DPS.
Back in the 50’s – 70’s, most students spoke English and the special needs children were in separate schools. Today those special needs children are in regular schools in order to mainstream them into society better, which is not an easy job, but it is the noble thing to do in my opinion.
I would surmise that this is not an easy job to have children that are mainstream along with English learner students and special needs children all in the same classroom that has 30+ kids, since it’s hard enough to teach all of them when the class sizes were much smaller.
It’s only guess on my part and if someone from DPS could enlighten us, it would be appreciated.
November 13th, 2010 at 7:20 pm
What type of backwards half reasoned malarky is advocating the decrease in teacher pay. Where were you when this school board spent 12 million dollars on outdoor sporting facilities?
I personally know many teachers who spend many unpaid hours coaching teams, counseling children, preparing lesson plans, etc. Add to that countless dollars of personal income spent on supplies for the classroom, and nightschool working on a graduate degree. This is the part of the teaching profession few people see. Sure there are bad teachers, just like there are crooked cops, unethical lawyers, and incompetent doctors. I guarantee you though for every bad teacher there are 10 good ones.
So your knee jerk I love the school board rant shows you dont understand the profession.
November 13th, 2010 at 7:35 pm
I had a similar conversation with a parent the other day who was concerned about the problems in public schools – high classroom counts, etc that have been mentioned here. She told me about how she was saving money to put her child into a private school near her, like some of the comments on here have mentioned as well.
My comment to that…why don’t you take the money you would give to a private school and give it to your public school? Then run for school board or PTA and have more of a say in how that money is utilized. It seems to me if more people chose to do this then maybe we would have more opportunities for smaller classrooms, better supplies, and a more competitive school system.
November 13th, 2010 at 10:54 pm
Reality Bites,
Think this out. The number of students is not nearly as important as the order in the classroom. A good teacher, in control of his/her classroom can certainly handle teaching 32 students.
Actually, students may benefit from having more classmates. Too much attention and coddling of the individual student may in reality not be good. As far as the large classes of the sixties – I believe those were the last days of good education – seems we’ve been in decline since that time.
November 14th, 2010 at 11:56 am
Reality Bites:
As far as my school board rant…call it what you want but I know more about the educational system than you think.
It seems to me that you think teachers are the ONLY professionals deserving of pay increases and benies? Does more money make a better teacher? Maybe you are proving a fallacy out there that “teachers don’t get into teaching for the money”.
Go back and read “I Agree” who is in the same boat as many other working people.
For all the whinning and complaining by the teachers about class size. Wouldn’t it behoove teachers to take that energy, work together problem solving and learn how to make larger class sizes fit in the classroom?
November 14th, 2010 at 2:52 pm
First off, Cloe you are dead wrong. According to the Federal Reserve survey of consumer finances 2007 study:
The average retirement account balance for head of household earners age 55 to 60 is $63,000. Add to that the cost of health care inflation and id say the baby boomer generation is guaranteed to be dependent upon the goodwill of society and the government. Be positive all you want this is the economic reality. At the age of retirement most baby boomers will not be able to privately afford 11 months of long term care in Oakwood Commons.
Marge, it is obvious you have no ability to understand reality.
A good teacher can handle 32 students, however at the elementary level handling is not teaching. At this age the fundamentals of reading, writing, and mathematics, are built. Different children progress at wildly different rates and the ability to give individual attention with 32 eight year olds is limited. The idea that coddling, and attention is bad only reenforces the ignorance of your emotion based ramblings. You can believe that the sixties were the last days of good education, the results speak otherwise.
For the people that believe Teachers should take pay cuts because other people have taken them is absurd. Do you tell the cashier at the EXXON station you should only charge $2 a gallon, or do you tell Ford Credit that $400 payment, well it should be $300, cause I took a cut. No you don’t. In a free market labor is paid according to the marginal value of productivity. If Teachers continue to teach larger amounts of students, and the results of the teaching do not decrease, what is the economic argument for lowering of wages? I guess you are for the government imposing its will over the free market.
My argument is this. The school board continues to mismanage school finances at the expense of students and teachers. Teachers are doing more with less and students are ending up with the short straw. In the sixties every school had dedicated art, music, school nurses, and free sports. Cant we at least give todays kids what we had?
I guarantee you this, either pay to educate these kids now and prepare them for the skills necessary to compete in the global economy, or you will pay much more in taxes latter to protect yourself from them taking it from you.
November 14th, 2010 at 6:28 pm
2 schools that were mentioned at the board meeting that I can recall were Snow and Lindbergh. Both elementary schools. Both at almost full capacity for their schools and both gaining new students each year.
now I want to touch on the special needs thing and the ESL thing.
yes, it’s harder to teach more kids in the classroom with students that have problems learning the language. There are arrangements made for those students with title 1 funding and even some fall under the Federal Laws of IDEA. Believe me when I say there is plenty of support for those students.
Special education – children who receive special education services are put in their least restrictive environment since that is REQUIRED by law. Michael, I know it’s a noble thing to do to you, but it’s the LAW and therefore they HAVE to comply!
Mainstreaming and inclusive education are two totally different things and when your child is mainstreamed for say science and there is a class of 29 kids… put in your 3 mainstream students for science you now have a class of 32 kids for that subject.
Inclusive education means that the child receiving special education services is included in ALL general education classes, not just a few here and there like I mentioned above in mainstreaming.
Ktaylor, you hit the nail on the HEAD!!!!
and for the record, my child is a mainstreamed student who is receiving special education services and is at one of the schools that has more than 30 kids in a classroom and is doing very well there!
November 15th, 2010 at 12:06 pm
Reality Bites – Thank you for being that concerned for my future well being.
Since you know nothing about me, please do not tell me that I am dead wrong. Since you are an intelligent person, you do realize what the first three letters of ASSumption spell. Don’t you?
Don’t worry, you won’t have to have me included in your burden. I have no intention in going to Oakwood Commons. I can only hope that you have made some type of arrangements for yourself, your family, and your parents.
Thanks again for your concern.
LIVE! LAUGH! LOVE!
November 15th, 2010 at 1:08 pm
I’m not going to act like I know much about the DPS system, as I moved here from another state. However, this much I do know, we are broke as a city. Therefore, I do not see any immediate release of the pressure of 30+ class size. If they split the group up, then wouldn’t that require a new school? We don’t have the resources to pay for another school, so I think part of this debate needs to look from a macro perspective in terms of class size. What is the class size of all the DPS schools? Does one school have 16 kids in the 1st grade, while the other public school has 32? Is the one school outperforming the other school, driving up the demand? Does the system need to look into the distribution of kids into the system? Again, I don’t claim to know all the facts, but it just seems to me that lowing the class size would present a different financial challenge in the sense it might require a bigger building / different building to accomodate.
November 15th, 2010 at 8:52 pm
MyTwoSense: I would like to know what you mean when you say that teachers should “work together problem solving and learn how to make larger class sizes fit in the classroom”
My classroom is a limited size, I cannot expand the walls. I have also heard it’s bad form to stack the children on top of each other. Believe me, I work my behind off to make sure every last one of my 156 high school students get the education they deserve. The problem is that when you have 30, 32, 34 kids in a classroom you spend more time managing the kids than you do teaching them.
If you have teens yourself, think about what it takes to get them to do something they don’t want to do. Then try and make them do it in a room with 33 of their friends. Then make it something really exciting like comma splices or algebra. Now try to correct them when they get it wrong, and make them feel like they’re the most special person in the room. Then break up a fight, comfort them when someone calls them a name, remind them that belching is rude, try to keep them seated while you’re dealing with their 33 friends, all while smiling and trying to think of new ways to meet their needs.
I can say with confidence that the majority of the population cannot do my job, and that most people would be disgusted by what passes for student effort. I work harder than most of my students do. I put in 12 hour days, and spend hundreds of dollars of my own money to make Dearborn’s children better.
If you are so certain that teachers are “whinning” about their class sizes I challenge you to become more involved in your schools. Volunteer. Donate money and time to our many organizations. Run for school board. Show up.
November 16th, 2010 at 12:30 am
I’m quite confident that as much of a nightmare it’s going to be, realigning the schools with new boundaries just may be in the cards in our future. There are some schools that are growing by leaps and bounds and other schools that are way under capacity. Kids need to be moved and if they aren’t there will be schools who will be unable to take anymore students as there is simply no room at those schools.
November 16th, 2010 at 9:37 am
I teach in Dearborn – fantastic comments. Everything you said is so true and I admire you and all high school teachers. I hear a lot of stories from the kids in my neighborhood about some of the kids in high school and lif I were teaching some of these students I would probably be in jail now because I wouldn’t have the patience to deal with the crap they get into. It all goes back to ‘respect’ and most of the kids don’t have that today.
November 16th, 2010 at 12:40 pm
How comes there is no discussion of the rule the union plays in all of this discussion. It seems to me the leaders of the union cuase most of the problems.
November 16th, 2010 at 5:24 pm
“Just to let you know, Charter schools are also out there. I know children who go to them and absolutely love them. They are free, and from the people with whom I have spoken, they are a great alternative.”
Really? Charter schools are free? Just like your president’s “free health care”? So the teachers who work there and the buildings they work in are paid for with little shiny miracles? No, they’re not free. I’m paying for them in addition to my kids’ parochial school tuition.
I love the idea that something is “free” just because someone else is paying for it. There should be a word for it. I’ll call it cashmegnuugen.
November 17th, 2010 at 10:07 am
The link below takes you to a Press and Guide article, with accurate statistics that may surprise even the biggest skeptics about Dearborn Public Schools. While DPS, along with other school districts certainly face future issues with funding, class sizes and more, let’s at least appreciate some notable DPS progress.
http://www.pressandguide.com/articles/2010/11/17/opinion/doc4ce2dd3c78d13876059057.txt?viewmode=fullstory
November 18th, 2010 at 12:46 am
Reality Bite you are so out of touch. Our teachers are paid well to coach, they do not do this for free. Yes they have lesson plans but they are given time EVERYDAY to do them during the school day. In elementary kids have art, music, gym, library, etc when they can do their lesson plans. In middle school our teachers teach FOUR 45 minute classes. They rest is prep time and time to discuss ‘team teaching’ Prep time is also in the high school. Add to this with they only work 180 days a year. More days off than days worked per year. I do agree with you about the school board wasting money. Giving $70,000 a year to the Education Foundation Director who still has a full time job elsewhere. Card system for the buses that doesn’t work. No one reviews residency and free lunch. Having Superintendent, Assistant Superintendent and Assistant to the Superintendent when some how Dr. Hughes managed to do all 3 jobs himself. Tom Rafferty retiring with a bonus incentive and then being hired right back as a contract employee. It goes on and on the waste. ALL the school unions took a cut. Why should the teachers be any different? Our property values are dropping and less money is coming in. The State is giving less money. Where is the money for the raises they want suppose to come from? You and I ? We’ve taken cuts too. We are out of work too. It is reality check time!
November 18th, 2010 at 11:46 am
An interesting article that gives us food for thought about issues that will have to be addressed soon:
http://detnews.com/article/20101118/METRO/11180420/High-teacher-salaries-under-scrutiny-in-Michigan
The news also has another article in it’s hard copy version showing a chart of Metro Detroit average teacher salaries and what each city’s superintendent is paid, but I cannot locate it online.
November 18th, 2010 at 12:43 pm
Who said anything about raises? Our teachers are not imbeciles. They know some shared sacrifice is needed and just want the courtesy of negotiating a fair contract, not having one shoved down their throats.
November 18th, 2010 at 4:40 pm
Anyone who thinks a professional and effective teacher has to, needs to, or should regularly put in 12-hour days, with 4 of those hours being unpaid, has a screw loose. Both of my parents were teachers, and good ones according to former students, and both of them typically left home around 7:00am and were home by 4:30 90% of the time. That’s not even an 8-hour day with lunch and travel time figured in.
Maybe teachers who can’t get the job done well without 4 unpaid hours in a 12-hour workday need better time management skills.
Having said that, I can’t see why teachers should be expected to take a pay cut when the district spent all that money on athletic fields. If the district is in that much trouble financially, there shouldn’t be any athletic programs to begin with, let alone new fields. If you want an athletic program when the district can’t afford to properly educate students, any sports should be 100% pay to play. That means coach and support personnel salaries, equipment, travel expenses and field construction. Everything. If we’re so broke that teachers MUST take pay cuts during the worst economic crisis since the 30’s when not everyone can have a 60 inch flat screen TV, we need to get our priorities in order.
November 18th, 2010 at 9:57 pm
Anyone who thinks good teachers start at 9 and are done at 4 everyday are idiots. Pure and simple. Do I think teachers should make 100 grand no. That being said 70 grand after 10 years senority and 9 years post secondary education is hardly gratuitous. Does anybody have any idea how much money time and effort goes into 5 years undergrad 3 plus three years graduate school. Teaching is a profession not a job. No other profession requires 9 years post secondary education and ten years senority to make 80 grand. Nurse practitioners, professional engineers, cpas, and pharmacists all make more than teachers with less than or equal education. Ya Michigan pays teachers well but do you really want to compete with Mississippi or Alabama ?
November 19th, 2010 at 1:29 am
Every program and project should be studied to save money for the schools. That seems obvious. Some things are not just numbers, though. Above, someone mentions croweded elementary schools. Everybody wants their children to go to school close to home at that age. If we start shifting kids around, will some be bussed to school?
Bussing starts at middle school, with some kids riding a long way. Do the Oakman school kids still ride to Smith? The Fairlane kids still ride to Bryant, I assume. We don’t want that for our elementary-age kids. How do we cure that?
November 19th, 2010 at 2:49 pm
I’ve been told by many people from DPS that kids are bussed to school all over the city, but mainly from the east end into the west end schools because the east end has far more students than the west, unlike my day when there were more students living in west Dearborn. Stout is another school that is primarily students from the southeast end of Dearborn. Edsel Ford and Dearborn High are loaded with east end students as well. The list goes on and on.
In this economy “Everything”, I’m not sure there is any money available at this time to stop busing kids out of their neighborhoods. Schools cost multi-millions to build and the money isn’t there and since Dearborn is an older Wayne County city that is mostly developed, the vacant and/or available land to build so many schools isn’t there either.
DPS built a 2 story addition onto Fordson about 5 or more years ago and per DPS, Fordson is overcrowded by 700 or more students. The cost to build a basic high school is anywhere from 60-80 million and I just don’t see that happening now or anytime soon in Dearborn for those reasons, along with the economic problems America is facing.
November 20th, 2010 at 11:34 am
Michael – maybe next time they decide to build a new school they might just think about cutting out A/C, carpeting, million dollar football fields, etc. All the kids really need is a simple place to go to school, a roof over their heads, desk, chair and books.
November 20th, 2010 at 3:02 pm
Bussing is now just a way to get kids from home to school and back.
Our grandkids live in Woodhaven and take the bus every day even though there are closer schools than the one they attend. Parents just accept it as a way of life.
New schools cannot be built every time the population shifts from one neighborhood to another.
November 21st, 2010 at 2:41 pm
Donna, while I was no big fan of those multi-million dollar athletic fields at the 3 high schools, I was no fan of them due to the timing, not because of the athletic fields. The timing in that for many years DPS had been operating at a loss in the millions, which resulted in teachers being laid off, positions eliminated, classes being eliminated and pay to play for sports coming into play. To build these multi-million dollar fields at that time just didn’t make a lot of sense to me. However, the fields are now there and there is nothing that can be done about them now, except know we have great athletic fields at our 3 high schools that kids, without a doubt are enjoying and that kids are much safer using.
Let me also point out that since I come from an athletic background and with kids today far more overweight and out of shape than they have ever been, athletics at school are even more important to kids today than they were in our day. In our day we were out exploring, playing sports, skating, biking, hiking and involved in plenty of physical activity after school and in the summer. Today many kids are sitting in the house on their computers, laptops, IPods, and more and the way they eat, especially with many having both parents that work, is fast and convenient food. So to me, today schools need to play an even bigger role in the physical health of students than in our day.
The other equally important point about why I believe kids being involved in athletics at schools is because most school sports are team sports. As these team sports taught us in our day, they taught us how to get along with others, teamwork, how to do your best and if you lose, how to lose graciously and not be a bad sport. They taught us how to work hard to succeed by coaches and other sports leaders motivating us to succeed and they played a huge part in learning to deal with our peers, which resulted in sports also playing a huge part in kids psychological makeup. Therefore, school sports play a huge part in the mental attitude and mental health of children.
With that being said, the key being when and if these schools can afford it and not at the expense of academics, then I see no issue with it.
November 22nd, 2010 at 6:36 am
you cannot trust one word out of Whiston’s, Shenkman’s, Baughman, and many many more in the administration. And what is wrong with kids just finishing high school? I AM TOLD THERE IS NO RESTRICTION FOR A KID TO GO TO HFCC ON DUAL ENROLLMENT, JUST A FORM THAT SAYS I WANNA GO. ONLY THE “DOOGY HOWSERS” SHOULD BE ALLOWED!!!
LETS DEMAND A LOCAL CITIZENS GRAND JURY TO LOOK INTO THE LACK OF TRUTH IN THE DEARBORN SCHOOLS!!!
AND THEN THE LIARS WILL WANT MORE MONEY
DOES ANYONE THINK THAT A $185,000 COMPENSATION PACKAGE FOR A LYING PRINCIPAL IS TOO MUCH. BUT I WONDER WHAT YOU GOTTA PAY FOR A TRUTHFUL AND HONORABLE ONE???
November 29th, 2010 at 9:11 pm
‘Truthdetector’: current principals don’t make $185K. Are you referring to Fadlallah, who was (at least rumored to be) pushed out of Fordson?
It has been true for years at Fordson that kids can dual enroll at HFCC even if their grades are lousy. That upsets classrooms at HFCC with the misbehavior of those unprepared students, but frees up space at Fordson. This is a terrible policy and should be stopped.
But, tell us more about buy-out packages…
December 1st, 2010 at 9:42 am
Other than police officers, I have the highest respect for the sacrifices and dedication of teachers. If schools don’t educate children well, then our police department is stuck dealing with the aftermath. If our city and school district cannot afford to pay for good teachers and other cities do, then our city has to deal with the aftermath.
With that being said, despite my ultimate respect and admiration of teachers, the American economy is the worst since the Great Depression. In fact, I believe if it were not for the FDIC insuring funds in financial institutions, this recession would actually be the 2nd Great Depression. Many blue collar and white collar people have taken significant pay and benefit cuts, with many others losing their jobs with no hope of another job in sight. Many people as educated or more educated than teachers today face the same issues.
DPS pays and benefits teachers very well and teachers pay and salaries are the biggest part of the DPS budget and if teachers do not want to see their “fellow” teachers laid off or losing their jobs permanently, then significant cuts to teachers pay and perks will have to be strongly considered. As sad as that might be to say, it is what it is, despite the many sacrifices of teachers…
December 2nd, 2010 at 7:43 pm
Michael:
As a dearborn teacher, I appreciate your balanced outlook and well-thought out comments. The point that seems to be missing from the debate–in my opinion–is this:
I don’t believe any of our teachers would debate that these economic conditions may indeed require them to make some sacrifices in wages, benefits or both. And I believe most of them, would be willing to negotiate a “fair” agreement that helps balance the budget.
However, tough economic times do not give the school board carte blanche to dictate the terms of this sacrifice to teachers, administrators, secretaries, janitors or any other of the PEOPLE they employ, especially when their demands far exceed the cuts that teachers in other school districts in the state (including DETROIT) have agreed to. Are the Dearborn Schools really in such deep trouble (compared to other districts) that the ONLY solution to their problems are DRASTIC cuts to pay and benefits (again–far exceeding those needed by other districts). If so, perhaps the problem lies not with the teachers, but with the decision makers whose decades of financial mismanagment have led us down this path.
One needs only to look at the current circus in Lansing or Washington to see that the ever revolving “only my way will work” approach to solving difficult problems is doomed to eventual failure. Wouldn’t it be nice if both sides could sit down and negotiate a fair contract before the holidays. I KNOW the teachers in Dearborn are ready to do just that. Is the school board?
December 3rd, 2010 at 9:54 am
In The Know,
I appreciate your comments and was wondering if you would mind giving us the following information, which you have much better access to than we do:
1) What percentage of the entire DPS budget do teachers account for?
2) How does this compare to other Michigan school districts?
When I have this information I hope you will provide, then perhaps we can discuss this in more informative detail. Thanks…
December 4th, 2010 at 9:48 am
It appears that DPS teachers are among the best paid in the state with some of the best benefits in the state. Adding in benefits, it costs the taxpayers of Dearborn over $100,000 per year, per teacher on average according to one of the articles and benefits alone play a $30,000 per year part of it.
$70,000 per year salary is $5,833 per month and it costs DPS another $$2,500 per month for teacher benefits. This doesn’t include teacher pensions which they get for life. The grand total of that per month is over $8,333.
I cannot even think of one profession that usually works 9 months per year, then gets paid vacation and personal days, along with the Christmas Holiday paid from before Christmas to after New Year and one that also has all the major holidays off paid in full and more, other than teachers.
There are millions of highly skilled people out there with their Masters and Ph’D’s who are unemployed, working at a big box store in shipping or stocking shelves or who have taken huge pay and benefit cuts. So far, teachers are the exception to this rule.
I don’t know of any profession or skilled trades position that is making this kind of pay or have these kind of benefits. Perhaps there are some small to mid-size business owners who earn this type of pay and benefits, but these are people who are taking all the risks and since I was once a business owner myself, these people work hours in 1 week equal what most others work in 2-3 weeks.
Dearborn’s Police officers that most likely have the hardest job in the Dearborn, and who are the ones that have to deal with the ones that commit crimes, mostly due to poverty and/or a lack of education of criminals, after 4 years seniority top out in the mid $60K range.
The government has cut funding significantly for public schools and I am told by a very credible source that DPS had $10 million cut from it’s budget this school year alone and that was AFTER DPS had already set their budget.
I have read that the cuts will be put in an escrow fund and that if/when the state again makes up the funding to DPS, that all these teacher pay cuts will be paid to teachers retroactive to the day they are owed. Something that rarely, if ever happens in the rest of the business world.
Are teachers important? Yes! Should they be paid well? Most definitely!!! But when the money isn’t there, the money isn’t there, period.
Therefore, looking at the rest of American’s underemployed and unemployed, who have little if any hope of finding work or a decent paying job, despite how unfair the lack of DPS bargaining may appear (according to you), even though I am told the opposite from some credible sources, the only other option left is to lay off or terminate teachers, unless teachers agree to cut some of their pay and/or benefits.
Most that I speak to are having a hard time feeling much empathy for the situation of teachers and when the new administration steps in, based upon all they’re stating of the need for total reform of education, things may even get worse.
No disrespect meant In The KNOW, but as I said before, it is what it is. The well is dry, so welcome to the world most of the rest of us face.
December 4th, 2010 at 9:53 am
The links are below:
What Detroit teachers are facing:
http://www.wsws.org/articles/2009/dec2009/teac-d05.shtml
Dearborn teachers average pay and benefit costs to Dearborn taxpayers:
http://www.pressandguide.com/articles/2010/10/04/news/doc4ca62435e8c60068601055.txt