ADAMS
School work force cuts expected
The Jackson County School System is preparing to reduce its work force next school year. Superintendent Shannon Adams warned district employees last week of a “strong possibility” to reduce the school system’s workforce to meet the demands of a leaner budget.
“I deeply regret the fact that we are in the position of having to take such measures, but the challenges of the current financial situation are very real indeed,” Adams wrote in an e-mail to district employees.
And facing an uncertain financial outlook, the school system is delaying rehiring teachers for next school year by one month.
Traditionally, teacher contracts are issued in March, but the school system will now rehire employees in April, Adams said on Thursday.
But when the Georgia General Assembly announced on Friday that it will meet in late June to finalize the state budget, Adams said that will also hamper the school system’s finances.
“The timeframe with our budget process is just horrible,” Adams said Monday.
The school system must finalize its budget before the next fiscal year starts on July 1. The General Assembly typically ends its session in March or April, but has opted to complete its session in June — when the state may know how much of the federal stimulus bill is headed to Georgia.
“The best we can hope for is that we’ll know what the education cut will be, but I don’t think anything will be final until they adjourn,” said Jackson County Board of Education chairperson Kathy Wilbanks. The district will not continue to delay issuing teacher contracts past April, she said.
And while everyone at the schools has been working to reduce expenses, Adams said it’s obvious that the district will trim its work force for the 2009-2010 school year.
“There will be an official reduction of some certified personnel and there will be some reduction of positions of non-certified personnel,” Adams said on Monday.
Certified positions are those that include teachers and administrators, while non-certified jobs may include bus drivers and custodians.
The Jackson County School System is looking at areas to cut and plans to give advance warning to those employees who may not have a job with the district next school year, Adams said.
It’s too early to say where those cuts will target, but they need to trim an estimated $2.5 million to $4 million from the school system’s budget, he added.
And facing an uncertain financial outlook, the school system is delaying rehiring teachers for next school year by one month.
Traditionally, teacher contracts are issued in March, but the school system will now rehire employees in April, Adams said on Thursday.
But when the Georgia General Assembly announced on Friday that it will meet in late June to finalize the state budget, Adams said that will also hamper the school system’s finances.
“The timeframe with our budget process is just horrible,” Adams said Monday.
The school system must finalize its budget before the next fiscal year starts on July 1. The General Assembly typically ends its session in March or April, but has opted to complete its session in June — when the state may know how much of the federal stimulus bill is headed to Georgia.
“The best we can hope for is that we’ll know what the education cut will be, but I don’t think anything will be final until they adjourn,” said Jackson County Board of Education chairperson Kathy Wilbanks. The district will not continue to delay issuing teacher contracts past April, she said.
And while everyone at the schools has been working to reduce expenses, Adams said it’s obvious that the district will trim its work force for the 2009-2010 school year.
“There will be an official reduction of some certified personnel and there will be some reduction of positions of non-certified personnel,” Adams said on Monday.
Certified positions are those that include teachers and administrators, while non-certified jobs may include bus drivers and custodians.
The Jackson County School System is looking at areas to cut and plans to give advance warning to those employees who may not have a job with the district next school year, Adams said.
It’s too early to say where those cuts will target, but they need to trim an estimated $2.5 million to $4 million from the school system’s budget, he added.
I certainly hope you are not in the classroom. What kind of professionalism are you demonstrating by calling someone a weasle. I don't disagree that some cuts and/or changes may be necessary on the administrative level. But come on, you can do the math. All of them combined don't add up to the shortfall in the millions that are projected.
Now, Seriously,
CUT THE ATHLETIC PROGRAM! That serves as no good academically anyway. It's just a bunch of testostrone flying around at county expense. Come on, do we REALLY need Friday Night Lights, ar would Reading, Writing and Arithmatic be more condusive to learning? How did all these EXPENSIVE ATHLETIC programs get into the school system anyway? Were they there in the Good Ol' Days? No. But the kids could read!
Athletic programs are a national standard. Some kids learn respect and teamwork through the sports programs. One of the biggest problems we have in our wealthy land is obesity. The last thing we need to do is have kids sitting around getting fatter.
Don't cut anything that will lessen the benefits to children. Lay off administrators and hire more teachers.
Get rid of the clueless Administrators, (they remind me of the car company execs.) and find some savvy go getters who are worth the pay.
Dentists are basically doctors.
Firemen are only required to have a high school diploma and training.
Teachers are professionals and I agree they should be paid a decent salary but should not be making 6 figures in the public school system. As for the administrators, I don't see any reason whatsoever for so many of them and for their salaries to exceed that of the highest paid teacher.
Phones in the classroom would be a distraction. Don't be silly.
I think the teacher is allowed to have a personal cell phone for emergencies. And I'm sure they're allowed to pee sometimes.
Did they adjust the heat to where the students are almost
freezing? The BOE for the county I live in did this. Funny
how and where they make the cuts in the budget.
Now I am not so ignorant to say that I know everything a doctor does but I will say that I strive to be the best teacher that I can be.
How dare all of you down this profession. I challenge you to spend a day in any classroom or in the shoes of a school administrator and then I would love to hear what you have to say about how much money we make.
I'm sorry that you are unhappy with your profession and that you have nothing better to do than to down teachers, but the truth of the matter is that if we don't stop bickering and arguing then none of OUR students win. All this will continue to do is wedge the gap between schools and families.
So please by all means, down me say whatever you want, post my salary in the paper, whatever....but that will not stop how I do my job and the love that I have for this profession!
As a parent, I would like to encourage other parents who feel strongly about their children being taught by quality individuals make a committment to attend the upcoming BOE meeting on March 9 (6:00pm) in support of our teachers.
Hey frustrated.....you have a bachelor's degree and you can't spell "which"?
I rest my case.
Typo: Big deal!
And the person who pays my salary knows how much I make, why should it be different for them?
For everyone else who cares about the future of education, cutting teaching positions is a huge problem. There's not a perfect solution to the budget issue, but making lots of small changes, like trimming administrative salaries or cutting unnecessary positions at the county level, would add up faster than you think. What about cutting costs by conserving energy in school buildings?
Teachers work too hard to put up with this much disrespect from their communities. As a 3rd grade teacer, if you broke down how much I make per hour for all of the real hours of work I put in BEYOND the 7 hours of actual teaching each day (tutoring students, doing research, writing lessons, grading papers, creating exams, etc.), you'd see that I make about as much as the lawn care service workers that trim your hedges. The only thing is, you don't need a college degree to use a weed whacker.
Bottom line: Don't think for a minute teachers are overpaid or that we deserve to have our jobs cut.
And do you think you calling me a name actually hurts my feelings?
Keep giving teachers raises! They deserve it!
5On the next day, their (G)rulers and elders and scribes were gathered together in Jerusalem;
6and (H)Annas the high priest was there, and (I)Caiaphas and John and Alexander, and all who were of high-priestly descent.
7When they had placed them in the center, they began to inquire, "By what power, or in what name, have you done this?"
8Then Peter, (J)filled with the Holy Spirit, said to them, "(K)Rulers and elders of the people,
9if we are on trial today for (L)a benefit done to a sick man, as to how this man has been made well,
10let it be known to all of you and to all the people of Israel, that (M)by the name of Jesus Christ the Nazarene, whom you crucified, whom (N)God raised from the dead--by this name this man stands here before you in good health.
11"(O)He is the (P)STONE WHICH WAS (Q)REJECTED by you, THE BUILDERS, but WHICH BECAME THE CHIEF CORNER stone.
12"And there is salvation in (R)no one else; for there is no other name under heaven that has been given among men by which we must be saved."
Threat and Release
13Now as they observed the (S)confidence of (T)Peter and John and understood that they were uneducated and untrained men, they were amazed, and (U)began to recognize them as having been with Jesus.
14And seeing the man who had been healed standing with them, they had nothing to say in reply.
You see Hugh, the educated Priests were the ones left speechless. The ones filled with the Holy Spirit and the power of God were the victors and so shall it be in the end times.
You better try another route.
The Cal Ripken President
by Ann Coulter (more by this author)
Posted 02/25/2009 ET
Updated 02/25/2009 ET
As Obama prepared to deliver his address to Congress on Tuesday, the Republican House Minority Leader John Boehner, Fox News' Bret Baier and Charles Krauthammer all gushed that history was being made as the first African-American president appeared before Congress.
Even Gov. Bobby Jindal, whom I suppose I should note was the first Indian-American to give the Republican response to a president's speech, began with an encomium to the first black president. (Wasn't Bobby great in "Slumdog Millionaire"?)
Are we going to have to hear about this for the next four years? Obama is becoming the Cal Ripken Jr. of presidents, making history every time he suits up for a game. Recently, Obama also became the first African-American president to order a ham sandwich late at night from the White House kitchen! That's going to get old pretty quick.
But as long as the nation is obsessed with historic milestones, is no one going to remark on what a great country it is where a mentally retarded woman can become speaker of the house?
Obama spent more than twice as much time in his historic speech genuflecting to the teachers' unions than talking about terrorism, Iraq or Afghanistan. So it was historic only in the sense that Obama is the first African-American president, but was the same old Democratic claptrap in every other respect.
After claiming that the disastrous stimulus bill would create or save 3.5 million jobs -- "more than 90 percent" in the private sector -- Obama then enumerated a long list of exclusively government jobs that would be "saved."
He was suspiciously verbose about saving the jobs of public schoolteachers. Because nothing says "economic stimulus" better than saving the jobs of lethargic incompetents who kick off at 2 p.m. every day and get summers off. Actually, that's not fair: Some teachers spend long hours after school having sex with their students.
As with the Clintons, Obama so earnestly believes in public school education that he sends his girls to ... an expensive private school. He demands that taxpayers support the very public schoolteachers he won't trust with his own children.
It is one thing to tell voters that school choice is wrong, because, you know, the public schools won't get better unless Americans sacrifice their children to the teachers' union's maw. But it is quite another for Democrats to feed their own kids to the union incinerator.
Consequently, no Democrat since Jimmy Carter has been stupid enough to send his own children to a public school.
And yet the stimulus bill expressly prohibits money earmarked for "education" to be spent on financial aid at private or parochial schools. Private schools might use it for some nefarious purpose like actually teaching their students, rather than indoctrinating them in anti-American propaganda.
The stimulus bill includes about $100 billion to education. By "education," Democrats don't mean anything a normal person would think of as education, such as learning how to talk good. "Education" means creating lots of useless bureaucratic jobs, mostly in Washington, having nothing to do with teaching.
Apparently, nothing irritates public schoolteachers more than being asked to teach. While 80 percent of the employees of private schools are teachers, only half the employees of public schools are. The rest are "coordinating," "facilitating" or "empowering" something or other.
The Department of Education alone provides more than 4,000 jobs that haven't the faintest connection with teaching. And now the stimulus bill will double the Education Department's funding. (For those of you who went to a public school, that means it will become twice as big.)
We've come a long way from Ronald Reagan promising to eliminate the Education Department, which itself was a Jimmy Carter sop to the teachers' unions.
Federal meddling in education has been an abject failure, so the Democrats' plan is to keep doing more of the same. If only there were some aphorism about people who fail to learn from history -- oh, well!
It can't be easy to reduce the educational achievement in America year after year, but the education establishment has done it! Yes they can!
Thanks to the hard work of thousands of government workers at the Department of Education and well-paid teachers' union employees, American schoolchildren perform worse on education tests for every year they spend in a public school.
It turns out that being in U.S. public schools has the same effect on people as hanging around Paris Hilton does.
In fourth grade, the earliest grade for which international comparisons are available, American students outperform most other countries in reading, math and science. Fourth-graders score in the 92nd percentile in science, the 58th percentile in math and the 70th percentile in reading, where they beat 26 of 35 countries, including Germany, France and Italy.
But by the eighth grade, American students are only midrange in international comparisons. (On the plus side, by the eighth grade they're noticeably fatter.)
By the 12th grade -- after receiving the full benefits of an American education -- Americans are near the bottom. Let X represent the number of years spent in U.S. public schools, and Y represent average test scores in math and reading -- oh, never mind.
With an additional eight years of a public school education under their belts, Americans fall from the 92nd percentile in science to the 29th percentile. While American fourth-graders are bested only by South Korea and Japan in science, by 12th grade, the only countries the American students can beat are Lithuania, Cyprus and South Africa.
Which suggests that if public education were extended all the way through college, by the time a student gets to graduate school he might very well be qualified to be ... speaker of the house!
Ann Coulter is Legal Affairs Correspondent for HUMAN EVENTS and author of "High Crimes and Misdemeanors," "Slander," ""How to Talk to a Liberal (If You Must)," "Godless," "If Democrats Had Any Brains, They'd Be Republicans" and most recently, Guilty: Liberal "Victims" and their Assault on America.
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