Interim Exec Director for Admin Services AST-114
This is a Full Time Emergency position.
Location: Central Office
Job Requirements: Required Qualifications: Possession of or eligibility for a Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction district administrator's license. Desired Qualifications: Doctor's Degree in Education or equivalent credit beyond the Master's Degree; five years of teaching experience; five years of administrative experience.
Additional info: This position is open to currently employed staff members. The official title of this position is: Interim Executive Director for Administrative Services/Interim Chief Academic Officer.
This position is for the 2008-09 school year. See job description link for further details. Click here for the Job Description
Clicking on this link will open a new window. To return to this posting, just close that window
Application Deadline: Until Filled.
Date Posted: 6/3/2008
POSITION DESCRIPTION
Page 1 of 2
TITLE: Interim Executive Director for Administrative Services/Interim Chief Academic Officer
REPORTS TO: Superintendent of Schools
DEPARTMENT: Central Office CLASSIFICATION: Administration
I. Accountability Objectives:
The Interim Executive Director for Administrative Services/Interim Chief Academic Officer, under the guidance of the Superintendent, is responsible for overseeing the day-to-day
supervision of all elementary, middle, high, and charter schools. Operations include
enrollment management, handling of customer concerns related to specific school issues, and the direction and supervision of principals.
II. Position Characteristics:
Salary: Set annually by Board of Education Length of Contract: 52 Weeks
III. Position Relationships: Reports to: Superintendent of Schools
Coordinates with: Superintendent of Schools, Executive Team, Principals, Central Office Staff and Board of Education
Type of Coordination: General
Supervises: Principals, Executive Assistant to the Interim Executive Director for Administrative Services/Interim Chief Academic Officer
IV. Position Qualifications:
A. Required Qualifications: Possession of or eligibility for a Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction district administrator's license.
B. Desired Qualifications: Doctor's Degree in Education or equivalent credit beyond the Master's Degree; five years
of teaching experience; five years of administrative experience.
C. Special Requirements: Ability to organize; thorough knowledge of administration of public education; ability
to provide leadership to administrators and teachers; ability to maintain excellent
interpersonal relationships with superiors, peers, and subordinates; ability to supervise the work of others and to make suggestions for improvement; skill in oral and written communication.
V. Position Responsibilities:
A. Advises Superintendent of Schools on matters pertaining to school operations.
B. Supervises and coordinates the work of principals. Responds to school issues with parents and principals.
C. Manages all phases of enrollment (class size, open enrollment, student transfers, and boundary decisions).
D. Serves as the lead administrator for the daily internal operations of the district.
E. Assists the Superintendent of Schools in interpreting the school district's programs and policies to the Board of Education, school staff, and the community at large.
F. Coordinates with the Executive Director of Business Services/Chief Financial Officer and the Executive Director of Human Resources & Labor Relations/HR Officer in the preparation of the annual district budget and ensures that the budgetary process allows for public information/input on district budgetary decisions.
G. Assists the Executive Director of Human Resources & Labor Relations/HR Officer in recruitment and procurement of professional staff.
H. Assists the Superintendent of Schools in developing plans for new school construction, remodeling of school facilities, and long-range building plans.
I. Attends Board of Education meetings and makes reports and makes recommendations
on programs as directed by the Superintendent of Schools.
J. Prepares state and/or local reports as directed by the Superintendent of Schools.
K. Maintains contact and consults with state, regional, and local agencies that have implications for the district.
L. Collaborates with building principals and central office administrative staff to identify professional meetings, conferences, institutes, etc. that keeps professional staff abreast of current trends and practices.
M. Assumes other duties as assigned by the Superintendent of Schools, including serving as the lead administrator in the absence of the Superintendent.
Eau Claire Area School District
500 Main Street, Eau Claire, Wisconsin 54701
(715) 852-3000 Fax (715) 852-3004
New:
12/11/1998 – Previously was Assistant Superintendent for Curriculum
and Instruction
06/2/2008 – Previously was Deputy Superintendent
Revised: 04/2001, 07/2006, 03/2007, 06/3/2008
Location: R:\Position Descriptions\Administrators\Interim Executive
Director for Administrative Services Interim Chief Academic
Officer.doc
Showing posts with label Miscellaneous. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Miscellaneous. Show all posts
Wednesday, June 18, 2008
Monday, April 28, 2008
Is Insanity Contagious?
Can we get it from our elected officials?
Folks, about once a month I go to BOE member Bollinger's blog to see what pretentiousness he is treating us to and this morning I cruised by his blog ( http://www.bollingerboard.blogspot.com/) just to see the "spin" he was putting on the Klaus/Olson naughtiness. As before, I had NO idea how deluded and out of touch some BOE members are. I honestly am concerned about his handle on reality. I am going to copy and print his latest post here on my blog because if the rest of the BOE or public sees it I am sure he will be part of this investigation and he will be required to remove it. I am sorry as many of you may develop nausea (I did) or headaches (reported by others) by simply reading this load of crap.
I have made bold several of his statements that are so incredible that they deserve a response. My parenthetical and italicized responses to Mike follows his comments.
Maria
Thursday, April 24, 2008
Tough Times
It’s quote week on Mike’s blog. This has been an interesting couple of weeks for us in the ever evolving sage of ‘The Times and Trials of s Board Member’. I believe Mr. Adams was speaking to me when he said …
No man who ever held the office of president would congratulate a friend on obtaining it.
John Adams
You all well know that I can’t discuss particulars of either of the events which are overloading the network service at the Leader-Telegram comments page. But I would like to speak on a point which I believe is CRITICAL to this school district.
Let's all take a deep breath and pause - please?
If there is anything we wish to change in the child, we should first examine it and see whether it is not something that could better be changed in ourselves."
Carl Gustav Jung,
"Never look down on anybody unless you're helping him up."
Jesse Louis Jackson
You are going to have to trust us moving forward. (Mike, we don't trust you at all. You were formerly a high-level employee of this screwed up organization called the ECASD and are good buddies with all the naughty people like Carol Olson, Bill Klaus and Gregg Butler and Mike O'Brien. You voted to make Mike O'Brien president of the BOE in spite of his poor leadership skills and glaring Conflict of Interest that worsened an already devastating leadership failure.)
I speak only for myself, but let me say this, with the utmost clarity. I didn’t take a dime when I ran for school board. I don’t take money for my service. I don’t have any aspirations to be on the board for years to come, nor do I have any other political aspirations. I believe simply in the purity of intent, I believe that if
A) You come to the board (and most of life) with a clear understanding of right and wrong; along with analytical ability to assess all the issues and make sound judgments and
(Mike, you, clearly do NOT have an understanding of right and wrong. You clearly do NOT have analytical abilities and you do NOT make sound judgments. Every single person in this town knows that it is wrong and illegal to sign and backdate documents when you no longer have the authority. Yet you knew this in October and (along with at least a majority of the BOE) didn't fire your friend, Bill Klaus when he tried to pull a fast one.)
B) Your judgments and opinions are from a sound humanistic and moralist focus.
Then the true nature of what to do next when a decision presents itself will become clear, obviously framed within the context of your own life experience, but clear nonetheless.
So with all the anger (on both sides) over the Health Curriculum and all the anger (on both sides) about the contract issue does anyone wonder what the heck happened? Five years ago this was a highly thought of school district (and yes I still think highly of it). All the same people were here then. So what happened? When did such a positive thing as this school district become a negative chew toy for the community?
Don’t get me wrong. This isn’t the Pollyanna / Orphan Anne platitudes that hope it’ll all go away. We’re working on it. But let’s be honest here, we tend to ascribe omnipotence to our leaders (Mike, we do not ascribe omnipotence to leaders like you, Bill Klaus and Carol Olson or Mike O'Brien nor most of the BOE who has followed Pres. O'Brien down this path of hiding behind the phony wall of "Closed Session".)(elected or otherwise) and in today’s sound bite world – it’s easy to draw conclusions.
The balancing act between confidentiality (if you sent me an EMAIL would you like it to be a matter of Public Record? It is you know.),(Mike, I sent you more than a couple e-mails about this disaster. Those of us who knew about it could see that it would turn into the biggest pile of crap in the history of the ECASD and eclipse all previous bad leadership of the last decade. But you and the BOE and the Administrative leadership ignored people who have more common sense than you apparently do. Please share the e-mails from citizens that ask the BOE to do something besides hide.) respect for the employee, respect for the parent and of course the UTMOST respect for the children mean that if I did not have that purity of intent, I wouldn’t be qualified. If you don’t trust me to do the right thing, fire me.
It is a simple Boolean equation that we use.
IF (qualified) THEN (trust) ELSE (fire).
People make mistakes, in criminal law, it’s all about intent. In my own world where I size people up when I meet with them, it’s all about intent. We need teachers, staff, administrators and a community that carry a purity of intent. I believe that the intent is and ALWAYS HAS BEEN there.
You dear reader have to help me. You (WE) have got to change our approach to this district. It is time to remember why we love this thing, to join hands and yes to sway to the music together.
(Mike, is the above a joke? Nobody is laughing. Nobody thinks this is funny that you and your buddies have dragged the entire district into a hole that will take a decade to dig out of. )
Promise
– yourself to be so strong that nothing can disturb your peace of mind;
– to talk health, happiness, and prosperity to every person you meet;
– to make all those you meet feel that there is something in them; to look at the sunny side of everything and make your optimism come true;
– to think only of the best, to work for the best, and expect only the best;
– to be just as enthusiastic about the success of others as you are about your own;
– to forget mistakes of the past, and press on to the greater achievements of the future; – to wear a cheerful countenance at all times and give every living creature you meet a smile;
– to give so much time to the improvement of yourself that you have no time to criticize others;
– to be too large to worry, too noble for anger, too strong for fear, and too happy to permit the presence of trouble.
(Mike, forget the poetry, just do your damned job. The above is another scary, pathetic attempt to deflect from what you should have done months ago and are trying to avoid doing now which is to : FIRE KLAUS, PROSECUTE OLSON and get rid of anybody else at the Main Office who had anything to do with this stupid, unethical, illegal and greedy act.)
§ Christian D. Larson
I don’t mean this to sound harsh; I am highly dismayed at the turn this has all taken, and we will handle this. I really need your help in moving on to our future. Our students, our community and our hard-working staff need you.
Oh and one last quote - of my own and my tag line …
“You may not agree with me, but you will always know what I think”.
Mike Bollinger
Posted by Mike Bollinger at 5:58 PM 0 comments Links to this post
Labels: Making Us Better
Folks, about once a month I go to BOE member Bollinger's blog to see what pretentiousness he is treating us to and this morning I cruised by his blog ( http://www.bollingerboard.blogspot.com/) just to see the "spin" he was putting on the Klaus/Olson naughtiness. As before, I had NO idea how deluded and out of touch some BOE members are. I honestly am concerned about his handle on reality. I am going to copy and print his latest post here on my blog because if the rest of the BOE or public sees it I am sure he will be part of this investigation and he will be required to remove it. I am sorry as many of you may develop nausea (I did) or headaches (reported by others) by simply reading this load of crap.
I have made bold several of his statements that are so incredible that they deserve a response. My parenthetical and italicized responses to Mike follows his comments.
Maria
Thursday, April 24, 2008
Tough Times
It’s quote week on Mike’s blog. This has been an interesting couple of weeks for us in the ever evolving sage of ‘The Times and Trials of s Board Member’. I believe Mr. Adams was speaking to me when he said …
No man who ever held the office of president would congratulate a friend on obtaining it.
John Adams
You all well know that I can’t discuss particulars of either of the events which are overloading the network service at the Leader-Telegram comments page. But I would like to speak on a point which I believe is CRITICAL to this school district.
Let's all take a deep breath and pause - please?
If there is anything we wish to change in the child, we should first examine it and see whether it is not something that could better be changed in ourselves."
Carl Gustav Jung,
"Never look down on anybody unless you're helping him up."
Jesse Louis Jackson
You are going to have to trust us moving forward. (Mike, we don't trust you at all. You were formerly a high-level employee of this screwed up organization called the ECASD and are good buddies with all the naughty people like Carol Olson, Bill Klaus and Gregg Butler and Mike O'Brien. You voted to make Mike O'Brien president of the BOE in spite of his poor leadership skills and glaring Conflict of Interest that worsened an already devastating leadership failure.)
I speak only for myself, but let me say this, with the utmost clarity. I didn’t take a dime when I ran for school board. I don’t take money for my service. I don’t have any aspirations to be on the board for years to come, nor do I have any other political aspirations. I believe simply in the purity of intent, I believe that if
A) You come to the board (and most of life) with a clear understanding of right and wrong; along with analytical ability to assess all the issues and make sound judgments and
(Mike, you, clearly do NOT have an understanding of right and wrong. You clearly do NOT have analytical abilities and you do NOT make sound judgments. Every single person in this town knows that it is wrong and illegal to sign and backdate documents when you no longer have the authority. Yet you knew this in October and (along with at least a majority of the BOE) didn't fire your friend, Bill Klaus when he tried to pull a fast one.)
B) Your judgments and opinions are from a sound humanistic and moralist focus.
Then the true nature of what to do next when a decision presents itself will become clear, obviously framed within the context of your own life experience, but clear nonetheless.
So with all the anger (on both sides) over the Health Curriculum and all the anger (on both sides) about the contract issue does anyone wonder what the heck happened? Five years ago this was a highly thought of school district (and yes I still think highly of it). All the same people were here then. So what happened? When did such a positive thing as this school district become a negative chew toy for the community?
Don’t get me wrong. This isn’t the Pollyanna / Orphan Anne platitudes that hope it’ll all go away. We’re working on it. But let’s be honest here, we tend to ascribe omnipotence to our leaders (Mike, we do not ascribe omnipotence to leaders like you, Bill Klaus and Carol Olson or Mike O'Brien nor most of the BOE who has followed Pres. O'Brien down this path of hiding behind the phony wall of "Closed Session".)(elected or otherwise) and in today’s sound bite world – it’s easy to draw conclusions.
The balancing act between confidentiality (if you sent me an EMAIL would you like it to be a matter of Public Record? It is you know.),(Mike, I sent you more than a couple e-mails about this disaster. Those of us who knew about it could see that it would turn into the biggest pile of crap in the history of the ECASD and eclipse all previous bad leadership of the last decade. But you and the BOE and the Administrative leadership ignored people who have more common sense than you apparently do. Please share the e-mails from citizens that ask the BOE to do something besides hide.) respect for the employee, respect for the parent and of course the UTMOST respect for the children mean that if I did not have that purity of intent, I wouldn’t be qualified. If you don’t trust me to do the right thing, fire me.
It is a simple Boolean equation that we use.
IF (qualified) THEN (trust) ELSE (fire).
People make mistakes, in criminal law, it’s all about intent. In my own world where I size people up when I meet with them, it’s all about intent. We need teachers, staff, administrators and a community that carry a purity of intent. I believe that the intent is and ALWAYS HAS BEEN there.
You dear reader have to help me. You (WE) have got to change our approach to this district. It is time to remember why we love this thing, to join hands and yes to sway to the music together.
(Mike, is the above a joke? Nobody is laughing. Nobody thinks this is funny that you and your buddies have dragged the entire district into a hole that will take a decade to dig out of. )
Promise
– yourself to be so strong that nothing can disturb your peace of mind;
– to talk health, happiness, and prosperity to every person you meet;
– to make all those you meet feel that there is something in them; to look at the sunny side of everything and make your optimism come true;
– to think only of the best, to work for the best, and expect only the best;
– to be just as enthusiastic about the success of others as you are about your own;
– to forget mistakes of the past, and press on to the greater achievements of the future; – to wear a cheerful countenance at all times and give every living creature you meet a smile;
– to give so much time to the improvement of yourself that you have no time to criticize others;
– to be too large to worry, too noble for anger, too strong for fear, and too happy to permit the presence of trouble.
(Mike, forget the poetry, just do your damned job. The above is another scary, pathetic attempt to deflect from what you should have done months ago and are trying to avoid doing now which is to : FIRE KLAUS, PROSECUTE OLSON and get rid of anybody else at the Main Office who had anything to do with this stupid, unethical, illegal and greedy act.)
§ Christian D. Larson
I don’t mean this to sound harsh; I am highly dismayed at the turn this has all taken, and we will handle this. I really need your help in moving on to our future. Our students, our community and our hard-working staff need you.
Oh and one last quote - of my own and my tag line …
“You may not agree with me, but you will always know what I think”.
Mike Bollinger
Posted by Mike Bollinger at 5:58 PM 0 comments Links to this post
Labels: Making Us Better
Friday, March 7, 2008
High School classes dropped for the 2008-09 year
I received these lists of classes from Principals Valk and Leibham. They were unable to say definitively which classes would have been dropped for low enrollment vs. budget cutbacks. But, clearly, as staff reductions force the size of all classes to be larger, more classes will be squeezed out of the remaining choices. I would like to follow up with Valk and Leibham to find out what classes are remaining of the AP programs and the Technology Charter School within the high schools as we have lost several over the last couple of years.
Read it and weep. Maria
CLASSES CUT AT NORTH HIGH SCHOOL
Floral Horticulture 102
Wellness 21st Century 1004
Natural Resources 104
AP Biology 1126
Vet. Science 114
Botany 1130
Wildlife Management II 118
AP Chemistry 1134
Account. 2 302
AP Physics Mech. 1142
Accounting III 303
AP Physics Elect. & Magn. 1144
Bus. Tech App II 306
Hist. Of Philosophy I 1232
Desktop Publ. 312
Hist. Of Philosophy II 1234
Princ. Of Mngmnt 314
Intol. & Diversity 1242
nt'l Business 316
Aviation 1308
Keyboarding Applications 320
Electricity 1310
Web Des. App. II 334
Voc. Elect. & Lab 1316
Financial Fit. 420
Princ. Engineer. 1324
Families First 422
Comp. Integ. Mfg. 1326
Food and Family 430
Voc. Graphics 1336
Food Sci/Nutri 432
Intro. Computer Tech. 1400
American Sign Language II 540
CISCO 1408
Stagecraft 632
CISCO II 1410
Alg. II and Trig B 714
CICSO III 1412
Int. Conc. Band 802
CICSO IV 1414
Chamber Choir 822
Crit. Read. Skills 1920
PEPI 908
WSI 910
Health Club 10
PE 914
CLASSES CUT AT MEMORIAL HIGH SCHOOL
Course # Course Name # of Requests
0102 Floral Design/Horticulture 13
0114 Veterinary Science II 12
0104 Natural Resources 03
0106 Leadership in Agriscience 01
0306 Business Technology Applications II 03
0314 Principles of Management 07
0316 International Business & Marketing 04
0320 Keyboarding Applications 15
0334 Web Design Applications II 03
0406 FCCLA-Classroom 02
0420 Financial Fitness 07
0422 Families First 01
0424 Parents and Children 17
0426 Assistant Child Care Teacher 05
0430 Food and Family 05
0432 Food Science and Nutrition 09
0626 Writing w/Style 07
0632 Stagecraft 03
1004 Wellness 21 Century 02
1126 AP Biology 03
1132 Chemistry II: Inorganic 06
1133 Chemistry II: Organic 10
1144 AP Physics C: Electricity & Magnetism 05
1242 Minority Experience 02
1314 Electronics Applications -0-
1316 Vocational Electronics & Lab -0-
1350 Construction II 04
1358 Vocational Automotive Technology 08
1360 Research and Development -0-
1400 Computer Technologies Overview 07
1401 Computer Construction & Network Design 16
1403 Web Program 13
1410 CISCO II 07
1412 CISCO III -0-
1414 CISCO IV -0-
1417 Cartoon Animation II & Web Game 04
Read it and weep. Maria
CLASSES CUT AT NORTH HIGH SCHOOL
Floral Horticulture 102
Wellness 21st Century 1004
Natural Resources 104
AP Biology 1126
Vet. Science 114
Botany 1130
Wildlife Management II 118
AP Chemistry 1134
Account. 2 302
AP Physics Mech. 1142
Accounting III 303
AP Physics Elect. & Magn. 1144
Bus. Tech App II 306
Hist. Of Philosophy I 1232
Desktop Publ. 312
Hist. Of Philosophy II 1234
Princ. Of Mngmnt 314
Intol. & Diversity 1242
nt'l Business 316
Aviation 1308
Keyboarding Applications 320
Electricity 1310
Web Des. App. II 334
Voc. Elect. & Lab 1316
Financial Fit. 420
Princ. Engineer. 1324
Families First 422
Comp. Integ. Mfg. 1326
Food and Family 430
Voc. Graphics 1336
Food Sci/Nutri 432
Intro. Computer Tech. 1400
American Sign Language II 540
CISCO 1408
Stagecraft 632
CISCO II 1410
Alg. II and Trig B 714
CICSO III 1412
Int. Conc. Band 802
CICSO IV 1414
Chamber Choir 822
Crit. Read. Skills 1920
PEPI 908
WSI 910
Health Club 10
PE 914
CLASSES CUT AT MEMORIAL HIGH SCHOOL
Course # Course Name # of Requests
0102 Floral Design/Horticulture 13
0114 Veterinary Science II 12
0104 Natural Resources 03
0106 Leadership in Agriscience 01
0306 Business Technology Applications II 03
0314 Principles of Management 07
0316 International Business & Marketing 04
0320 Keyboarding Applications 15
0334 Web Design Applications II 03
0406 FCCLA-Classroom 02
0420 Financial Fitness 07
0422 Families First 01
0424 Parents and Children 17
0426 Assistant Child Care Teacher 05
0430 Food and Family 05
0432 Food Science and Nutrition 09
0626 Writing w/Style 07
0632 Stagecraft 03
1004 Wellness 21 Century 02
1126 AP Biology 03
1132 Chemistry II: Inorganic 06
1133 Chemistry II: Organic 10
1144 AP Physics C: Electricity & Magnetism 05
1242 Minority Experience 02
1314 Electronics Applications -0-
1316 Vocational Electronics & Lab -0-
1350 Construction II 04
1358 Vocational Automotive Technology 08
1360 Research and Development -0-
1400 Computer Technologies Overview 07
1401 Computer Construction & Network Design 16
1403 Web Program 13
1410 CISCO II 07
1412 CISCO III -0-
1414 CISCO IV -0-
1417 Cartoon Animation II & Web Game 04
Saturday, December 29, 2007
Eau Claire property tax analysis
Folks,
Bob Schwartz, an EC resident who loves data and does lots of analysis has put together a pretty interesting analysis of EC property tax data over the years. You can look it over at the following site:
http://www.bobschwartz.us/node/46
Happy New Year to all!
Maria
Bob Schwartz, an EC resident who loves data and does lots of analysis has put together a pretty interesting analysis of EC property tax data over the years. You can look it over at the following site:
http://www.bobschwartz.us/node/46
Happy New Year to all!
Maria
Thursday, October 11, 2007
Amazing Political Maps of EC
Please go to the following website set up by Bob Schwartz to see some incredible political maps of the data on the School Referendum crossed against other information. Bob is a guru when it comes to data and I just appreciate that somebody likes to tinker around with this stuff and keep the rest of us informed.
Thanks, Bob,
Maria
http://www.bobschwartz.us/
Thanks, Bob,
Maria
http://www.bobschwartz.us/
Saturday, September 22, 2007
Early Retirement Costs
This Editorial was written by Don Huebscher of the LT. Interesting that he cites costs associated with several Principals in the ECASD but not the Administrators (Klaus, Butler, H. Hart, etc...) Maria
Early retirement costs no longer sustainable
Source: LT
Sunday,August 26, 2007
A few years ago, Ken Cole, then-head of the Wisconsin Association of School Boards, visited the Leader-Telegram to talk about school funding and other issues.
During that conversation, Cole commented that if the early retirement age for public school educators was raised to 59 1/2, school districts around the state could save tens of millions of dollars a year.
I was a bit surprised. After all, wasn't the whole idea of early retirement to save money by bringing in new hires at lower wages?
Then, some time after that, Menomonie school board member Margaret Breisch brought in some charts showing how early retirement is taking an increasing toll on that district's budget.
So with that background, I thought I'd do a little ciphering of my own.
Last month the Leader-Telegram published a story about six longtime Eau Claire school principals retiring. I figured this offered an opportunity to see how early retirement is affecting the Eau Claire school district on a limited scale. One of the six retirees, Jane Johnson, was in a job-share arrangement at Flynn School, so I decided to focus on the other five retiring principals: Jerry Bauer, Putnam Heights; Tom Fiedler, Northstar; Deb Hansen, DeLong; Mary Kay Kopf, Meadowview; and Mary Seitz, Lakeshore.
The school district provided me with the salaries and fringe benefit packages of the five retirees at the time of their departures. That sum was $622,294. I also obtained the salaries and projected benefit packages for the five people who replaced them: Bill Klaus, Tim O'Reilly, Delesa Boley, Robert Hehli and Kim Lauterbach-Koller. That sum was $580,344. The $41,950 difference is the first-year savings to the school district.
I then estimated an annual 4 percent increase in wages and benefits, which probably is high but close enough for the sake of my informal study. Also, for the sake of discussion, I imagined the age of eligibility for early retirement being 60 rather than 55. This is where it gets a little complicated. Two of the retiring principals were 55 when they retired, two were 56 and one was 57. Computing the number of years until each reached age 60 and adding 4 percent a year to their wage-benefit package produced compensation totaling $727,127. Figuring the same 4 percent a year increase for their replacements produced wages and benefits for the corresponding years of $677,351. The difference represents a $49,776 savings to the district. Added to the first-year savings of $41,950, the district would save $91,726 in salaries and benefits over the time it takes all five retirees to hit age 60, based on my unofficial raise percentage.
Finally, the district pays each of the five retirees $18,866.40 a year for health insurance until they are eligible for Medicare. The five retirees will receive a total of 21 years of health insurance before they all turn 60 (5+5+4+4+3), or a total of $396,194. Subtracting the aforementioned salary-benefit savings of $91,726 results in a net cost to the district of $304,468. This number may be a bit high because health benefits are computed per month, and the five retirees each aren't likely to use the maximum number of months of benefits before reaching age 60.
The retirees each also receive post-retirement stipends ranging from $1,553 to $3,103 per month, but those are only for 60 months, so even if the retirement age were raised to 60, that benefit probably wouldn't change, barring separate negotiations.
Regardless, early retirement is putting significant pressure on all local, state and federal governmental budgets. If five people are costing the local school district in the neighborhood of $300,000 by the time they turn 60, imagine the cumulative effect of all early retirees on public budgets.
Rising health care costs are the major culprits. As recently as 1995 a family health insurance plan in the Eau Claire school district cost $5,388 a year. Inflation since 1995 has increased about 37 percent; the cost of an annual health insurance plan in the Eau Claire school district has gone up about 250 percent during the same period.
This issue isn't going away. It affects everything from class sizes to snow removal, and it's only going to get worse as baby boomers continue to retire.
On a practical level, 55-year-olds still have a lot to offer. If we're losing money and expertise by making retirement affordable and attractive, we're losing competence and skill in addition to money. Some jobs can't be done as well at age 55 as 35 — law enforcement comes particularly to mind — but people far into their 50s can do other jobs as well or better than younger and less experienced people.
The political pressure to maintain the status quo is immense. And remember, state legislators qualify for the same or similar benefits. So where's the impetus to change?
About the only hope is public pressure. As public services diminish and debates rage for higher taxes in part to cover this huge and ever-growing cost, something has to give. It's happening already.
Huebscher, editor of the Leader-Telegram, can be reached at 833-9216, 800-236-7077, ext. 3216 or don.huebscher@ecpc.com.
Early retirement costs no longer sustainable
Source: LT
Sunday,August 26, 2007
A few years ago, Ken Cole, then-head of the Wisconsin Association of School Boards, visited the Leader-Telegram to talk about school funding and other issues.
During that conversation, Cole commented that if the early retirement age for public school educators was raised to 59 1/2, school districts around the state could save tens of millions of dollars a year.
I was a bit surprised. After all, wasn't the whole idea of early retirement to save money by bringing in new hires at lower wages?
Then, some time after that, Menomonie school board member Margaret Breisch brought in some charts showing how early retirement is taking an increasing toll on that district's budget.
So with that background, I thought I'd do a little ciphering of my own.
Last month the Leader-Telegram published a story about six longtime Eau Claire school principals retiring. I figured this offered an opportunity to see how early retirement is affecting the Eau Claire school district on a limited scale. One of the six retirees, Jane Johnson, was in a job-share arrangement at Flynn School, so I decided to focus on the other five retiring principals: Jerry Bauer, Putnam Heights; Tom Fiedler, Northstar; Deb Hansen, DeLong; Mary Kay Kopf, Meadowview; and Mary Seitz, Lakeshore.
The school district provided me with the salaries and fringe benefit packages of the five retirees at the time of their departures. That sum was $622,294. I also obtained the salaries and projected benefit packages for the five people who replaced them: Bill Klaus, Tim O'Reilly, Delesa Boley, Robert Hehli and Kim Lauterbach-Koller. That sum was $580,344. The $41,950 difference is the first-year savings to the school district.
I then estimated an annual 4 percent increase in wages and benefits, which probably is high but close enough for the sake of my informal study. Also, for the sake of discussion, I imagined the age of eligibility for early retirement being 60 rather than 55. This is where it gets a little complicated. Two of the retiring principals were 55 when they retired, two were 56 and one was 57. Computing the number of years until each reached age 60 and adding 4 percent a year to their wage-benefit package produced compensation totaling $727,127. Figuring the same 4 percent a year increase for their replacements produced wages and benefits for the corresponding years of $677,351. The difference represents a $49,776 savings to the district. Added to the first-year savings of $41,950, the district would save $91,726 in salaries and benefits over the time it takes all five retirees to hit age 60, based on my unofficial raise percentage.
Finally, the district pays each of the five retirees $18,866.40 a year for health insurance until they are eligible for Medicare. The five retirees will receive a total of 21 years of health insurance before they all turn 60 (5+5+4+4+3), or a total of $396,194. Subtracting the aforementioned salary-benefit savings of $91,726 results in a net cost to the district of $304,468. This number may be a bit high because health benefits are computed per month, and the five retirees each aren't likely to use the maximum number of months of benefits before reaching age 60.
The retirees each also receive post-retirement stipends ranging from $1,553 to $3,103 per month, but those are only for 60 months, so even if the retirement age were raised to 60, that benefit probably wouldn't change, barring separate negotiations.
Regardless, early retirement is putting significant pressure on all local, state and federal governmental budgets. If five people are costing the local school district in the neighborhood of $300,000 by the time they turn 60, imagine the cumulative effect of all early retirees on public budgets.
Rising health care costs are the major culprits. As recently as 1995 a family health insurance plan in the Eau Claire school district cost $5,388 a year. Inflation since 1995 has increased about 37 percent; the cost of an annual health insurance plan in the Eau Claire school district has gone up about 250 percent during the same period.
This issue isn't going away. It affects everything from class sizes to snow removal, and it's only going to get worse as baby boomers continue to retire.
On a practical level, 55-year-olds still have a lot to offer. If we're losing money and expertise by making retirement affordable and attractive, we're losing competence and skill in addition to money. Some jobs can't be done as well at age 55 as 35 — law enforcement comes particularly to mind — but people far into their 50s can do other jobs as well or better than younger and less experienced people.
The political pressure to maintain the status quo is immense. And remember, state legislators qualify for the same or similar benefits. So where's the impetus to change?
About the only hope is public pressure. As public services diminish and debates rage for higher taxes in part to cover this huge and ever-growing cost, something has to give. It's happening already.
Huebscher, editor of the Leader-Telegram, can be reached at 833-9216, 800-236-7077, ext. 3216 or don.huebscher@ecpc.com.
Saturday, September 15, 2007
BOE Contact Information
Please see below the information you need to contact BOE members and ECASD Administration
Board of Education Distribution Email: board@students.ecasd.k12.wi.us
Michael O'Brien, President (April 2008)
2975 W. Princeton Avenue
Eau Claire, WI 54703
Home Phone: 834-8969
mobrien@ecasd.k12.wi.us
On Board since 1999
Mary Kneer, Vice President (April 2009)
3326 Delbert Road
Eau Claire, WI 54703
Home Phone: 835-1692
mkneer@ecasd.k12.wi.us
On Board since 1994
Brent Wogahn, Clerk (April 2010)
3702 Timber Trails Court
Eau Claire, WI 54701
Home Phone: 831-9692
bwogahn@ecasd.k12.wi.us
On Board since 2004
Ken Faanes, Treasurer (April 2010)
5695 North Shore Drive
Eau Claire, WI 54703
Home Phone: 836-9199
kfaanes@ecasd.k12.wi.us
On Board since 2007
Carol Craig (April 2008)
891 Blackoak Road
Eau Claire, WI 54701
Home Phone: 832-1306
ccraig@ecasd.k12.wi.us
On Board 1982-1994 & 2005 - Present
Trish Cummins (April 2009)
1609 Rust Street
Eau Claire, WI 54701
Home Phone: 835-8135
tcummins@ecasd.k12.wi.us
On Board since 2006
Michael Bollinger (April 2010)
2830 Solem Lane
Eau Claire, WI 54703
Home Phone: 830-1855
mbollinger@ecasd.k12.wi.us
Mike's Blog - www.bollingerboard.blogspot.com
On Board since 2007
DISTRICT ADMINISTRATOR CONTACT INFORMATION
Leary, James
SUPERINTENDENT
Phone:(715)852-3106
Email: jleary@ecasd.k12.wi.us
Butler, Gregg A
DEPUTY SUPERINTENDENT
Phone:(715)852-3007
Email: gbutler@ecasd.k12.wi.us
Van De Water, Daniel
Administrator of BUSINESS
Phone:(715)852-3011
Email: dvandewater@ecasd.k12.wi.us
Weissenburger, Fred
Administrator of STUDENT SERVICES & CURRICULUM
Phone:(715)852-3071
Email: fweissenburger@ecasd.k12.wi.us
Kling, James
Administrator of PERSONNEL
Phone:(715)852-3051
Email: jkling@ecasd.k12.wi.us
SUPERINTENDENT ASSISTANT AND BOARD SECRETARY
Iverson, Patrice A
ADMINISTRATIVE ASSISTANT - SUPERINTENDENTS OFFICE
Phone:(715)852-3002
Email: piverson@ecasd.k12.wi.us
Board of Education Distribution Email: board@students.ecasd.k12.wi.us
Michael O'Brien, President (April 2008)
2975 W. Princeton Avenue
Eau Claire, WI 54703
Home Phone: 834-8969
mobrien@ecasd.k12.wi.us
On Board since 1999
Mary Kneer, Vice President (April 2009)
3326 Delbert Road
Eau Claire, WI 54703
Home Phone: 835-1692
mkneer@ecasd.k12.wi.us
On Board since 1994
Brent Wogahn, Clerk (April 2010)
3702 Timber Trails Court
Eau Claire, WI 54701
Home Phone: 831-9692
bwogahn@ecasd.k12.wi.us
On Board since 2004
Ken Faanes, Treasurer (April 2010)
5695 North Shore Drive
Eau Claire, WI 54703
Home Phone: 836-9199
kfaanes@ecasd.k12.wi.us
On Board since 2007
Carol Craig (April 2008)
891 Blackoak Road
Eau Claire, WI 54701
Home Phone: 832-1306
ccraig@ecasd.k12.wi.us
On Board 1982-1994 & 2005 - Present
Trish Cummins (April 2009)
1609 Rust Street
Eau Claire, WI 54701
Home Phone: 835-8135
tcummins@ecasd.k12.wi.us
On Board since 2006
Michael Bollinger (April 2010)
2830 Solem Lane
Eau Claire, WI 54703
Home Phone: 830-1855
mbollinger@ecasd.k12.wi.us
Mike's Blog - www.bollingerboard.blogspot.com
On Board since 2007
DISTRICT ADMINISTRATOR CONTACT INFORMATION
Leary, James
SUPERINTENDENT
Phone:(715)852-3106
Email: jleary@ecasd.k12.wi.us
Butler, Gregg A
DEPUTY SUPERINTENDENT
Phone:(715)852-3007
Email: gbutler@ecasd.k12.wi.us
Van De Water, Daniel
Administrator of BUSINESS
Phone:(715)852-3011
Email: dvandewater@ecasd.k12.wi.us
Weissenburger, Fred
Administrator of STUDENT SERVICES & CURRICULUM
Phone:(715)852-3071
Email: fweissenburger@ecasd.k12.wi.us
Kling, James
Administrator of PERSONNEL
Phone:(715)852-3051
Email: jkling@ecasd.k12.wi.us
SUPERINTENDENT ASSISTANT AND BOARD SECRETARY
Iverson, Patrice A
ADMINISTRATIVE ASSISTANT - SUPERINTENDENTS OFFICE
Phone:(715)852-3002
Email: piverson@ecasd.k12.wi.us
Wednesday, August 8, 2007
Classes cut at Memorial and North
Please find below a list of all the classes that were cut at North and Memorial High School due to budget reductions. I did not get an electronic copy of this info. so this is tedious and I hope I got it all right! I have entered the Dept. where the cut was made, then the staff cut that was made and then the # of students displaced by the cut classes. When the info. indicated that an entire section was cut, I assumed that to be 28 students.
My comments about this list are that this is just one more example of what happens when there is absolutely no leadership functioning at the top of our district for the last several years. There was NO PLANNING at all for the budget shortfalls that have been building for years. In 2006-07 there was a $6 million deficit that the leadership just took from the fund balance and even after that they made NO PLAN for the coming years!! In addition, there was NO PLANNING by the ECASD leadership in the event that the referendum failed. So on April 4th, the day after the election, principals had to scramble to come up with their best shot with NO OVERRIDING POLICY OR GUIDELINES to make these huge cuts. The ECASD BOE did not even bother to meet in the intervening 2 weeks to craft some sort of educational/programming philosophy as a guideline for principals.
I am not faulting principals Leibham or Valk at all for this! They did their best without any information in a ridiculous timeframe. But it is clear that cuts were based on low enrollment rather than curriculum standards. When you see huge chunks of the AP curriculum erased along with the Charter School offerings decimated next to cuts in Keyboarding and Culinary II classes you know that there was no overriding VISION for what the district is doing.
Sad, sad, sad.
MEMORIAL HIGH SCHOOL: 6.8 staff and 1077 students affected (this means that more than half the Memorial students lost a class!)
Agriculture, .2 staff, 38 students:
Horticulture and Wildlife Mgmt. II
Art, .3 staff, 18 students:
Comm. Art II
Business/Marketing, .4 staff, 74 students
Keyboarding, Prep. 21, Acct. II (reduced from yr. to sem.) and Intro. to Web
Family/Consumer Ed.: .3 staff, 46 students
Culinary II, Parent/Child, Child Care
Health: .1 staff, 28 students
Health 1000 (1 sect.)
Language Arts: .9 staff, 139 students
1 section each of English 10, Enriched English 10 , AP Lit. , Prep. 21; GUM (?), Adv. Theater
Math: 1.0 staff, 121 students
1 sect. each of Geometry, Alg/Geom. 3, Accel. Pre-Calc., AP Stats and Tech. Math
Music: .4 staff and 88 students
Jazz 4, Jazz 5, Show Choir 3, Music Theory and the Band Coord.
Science: .7 staff and 131 students
1 sect. each of Earth Science, Biology, Chemistry, and Botany plus Env. Science B
Social Studies: .6 staff and 81 students
1 sect. of Civics plus AP US History, Philosphy !!, Anthropology and SWAT sem. (?)
Tech Ed: .6 staff and 60 students
Intro. Const., Aviation, Elect., Digital, Woods II
World Language: .6 staff and 50 students
French 1, German 5, and i sect. of Spanish 3
Charter School: .4 staff and 63 students
Intro. Comp. Tech., Operations Syst., Cisco I, Cisco III, Animation
Misc.: .1 staff and 28 students
1 sect. of Personal Awareness/Zeegers (?)
Phy Ed: .2 staff and 56 students
1 sect. each of PE 9 and Team Sports
NORTH HIGH SCHOOL
NOTE: I received an XCEL spreadsheet but I don't know how to paste it in this blog so I just copied and pasted the information. The first section is classes dropped to low enrollment, followed by classes dropped due to budget reduction and then classes cut due to both factors. Classes are not categorized by Dept. The information is listed as follows:
Class Name, class #, staff cut, students enrolled
Totals at North High are 8.0 staff (3.7 due to low enrollment) and 598 students.
Dropped/Low Enrollment 2/2007
Introduction to Natural Resources 104 0.10 3
Vet Science II 114 0.10 16
Wildlife Management 2 118 0.10 15
Advanced Computer Applications 306 0.10 1
Intermediate Web Design 334 0.10 5
Families First 422 0.10 9
Food Science and Nutrition 432 0.10 8
ASL 2 540 0.20 9
Advanced Journalism 622 0.20 0
Stagecraft 632 0.10 7
Concert Band 802 0.20 7
Chamber Choir 822 0.20 10
WSI/LGT (EB Semester 2) 0910 .10 12
Early Bird - 12 0917 .10 4
AP Biology II 1126 0.20 4
Adv Chemistry A 1132 0.10 13
Adv Chemistry B 1133 0.10 16
AP Chemistry II 1134 0.20 0
AP Physics C: Mechanics 1142 0.20 4
AP Physics C: Electricity & Magnetism 1144 0.20 1
AP US History 1202 0.20 12
History of Philosophy II 1234 0.10 9
Architectural Design (Drafting II) 1320 0.20 10
Computer Int Manf (CIM) 1326 0.20 12
Vocational Metals 1344 0.20 6
4/11/2007- budget reductions
Floral Design and Horticulture 102 0.10 18
Vetrinary Science 1 112 0.10 18
Combined Visual Arts 200 0.10 19
Desktop Publishing 312 0.10 14
International Business & Marketing 316 0.10 17
Culinary II 418 0.10 17
French 5 508 0.20 12
German 4 516 0.20 16
German 5 518 0.20 1
Journalism 620 0.20 16
Advanced Theatre 630 0.10 20
Marketing II CO-OP 326 0.20 20
Algebra & Trigonomety A 713 0.20 15
Honors Earth Science 1102 0.10 19
Botany 1130 0.10 14
DS Middle East 1238 0.10 16
Intro to Aviation 1308 0.10 18
Electronics 3 1314 0.20 10
Pre-Engineering CAD 1322 0.20 9
Principals of Engineering 1324 0.20 14
Intro to Op Sys 1402 0.10 10
CISCO 1 1408 0.10 18
CISCO 2 1410 0.10 13
CISCO 3 1412 0.10 7
CISCO 4 1414 0.10 7
Basic English 9 2002 0.20 5
Basic US History 2004 0.10 2
Cut 4/24/07 - Low Enrollment/Budget
Business Co-Op Classroom 1602 0.20 15
Business Co-Op 1604 0.20 13
Ap Calc BC 728 0.20 12
My comments about this list are that this is just one more example of what happens when there is absolutely no leadership functioning at the top of our district for the last several years. There was NO PLANNING at all for the budget shortfalls that have been building for years. In 2006-07 there was a $6 million deficit that the leadership just took from the fund balance and even after that they made NO PLAN for the coming years!! In addition, there was NO PLANNING by the ECASD leadership in the event that the referendum failed. So on April 4th, the day after the election, principals had to scramble to come up with their best shot with NO OVERRIDING POLICY OR GUIDELINES to make these huge cuts. The ECASD BOE did not even bother to meet in the intervening 2 weeks to craft some sort of educational/programming philosophy as a guideline for principals.
I am not faulting principals Leibham or Valk at all for this! They did their best without any information in a ridiculous timeframe. But it is clear that cuts were based on low enrollment rather than curriculum standards. When you see huge chunks of the AP curriculum erased along with the Charter School offerings decimated next to cuts in Keyboarding and Culinary II classes you know that there was no overriding VISION for what the district is doing.
Sad, sad, sad.
MEMORIAL HIGH SCHOOL: 6.8 staff and 1077 students affected (this means that more than half the Memorial students lost a class!)
Agriculture, .2 staff, 38 students:
Horticulture and Wildlife Mgmt. II
Art, .3 staff, 18 students:
Comm. Art II
Business/Marketing, .4 staff, 74 students
Keyboarding, Prep. 21, Acct. II (reduced from yr. to sem.) and Intro. to Web
Family/Consumer Ed.: .3 staff, 46 students
Culinary II, Parent/Child, Child Care
Health: .1 staff, 28 students
Health 1000 (1 sect.)
Language Arts: .9 staff, 139 students
1 section each of English 10, Enriched English 10 , AP Lit. , Prep. 21; GUM (?), Adv. Theater
Math: 1.0 staff, 121 students
1 sect. each of Geometry, Alg/Geom. 3, Accel. Pre-Calc., AP Stats and Tech. Math
Music: .4 staff and 88 students
Jazz 4, Jazz 5, Show Choir 3, Music Theory and the Band Coord.
Science: .7 staff and 131 students
1 sect. each of Earth Science, Biology, Chemistry, and Botany plus Env. Science B
Social Studies: .6 staff and 81 students
1 sect. of Civics plus AP US History, Philosphy !!, Anthropology and SWAT sem. (?)
Tech Ed: .6 staff and 60 students
Intro. Const., Aviation, Elect., Digital, Woods II
World Language: .6 staff and 50 students
French 1, German 5, and i sect. of Spanish 3
Charter School: .4 staff and 63 students
Intro. Comp. Tech., Operations Syst., Cisco I, Cisco III, Animation
Misc.: .1 staff and 28 students
1 sect. of Personal Awareness/Zeegers (?)
Phy Ed: .2 staff and 56 students
1 sect. each of PE 9 and Team Sports
NORTH HIGH SCHOOL
NOTE: I received an XCEL spreadsheet but I don't know how to paste it in this blog so I just copied and pasted the information. The first section is classes dropped to low enrollment, followed by classes dropped due to budget reduction and then classes cut due to both factors. Classes are not categorized by Dept. The information is listed as follows:
Class Name, class #, staff cut, students enrolled
Totals at North High are 8.0 staff (3.7 due to low enrollment) and 598 students.
Dropped/Low Enrollment 2/2007
Introduction to Natural Resources 104 0.10 3
Vet Science II 114 0.10 16
Wildlife Management 2 118 0.10 15
Advanced Computer Applications 306 0.10 1
Intermediate Web Design 334 0.10 5
Families First 422 0.10 9
Food Science and Nutrition 432 0.10 8
ASL 2 540 0.20 9
Advanced Journalism 622 0.20 0
Stagecraft 632 0.10 7
Concert Band 802 0.20 7
Chamber Choir 822 0.20 10
WSI/LGT (EB Semester 2) 0910 .10 12
Early Bird - 12 0917 .10 4
AP Biology II 1126 0.20 4
Adv Chemistry A 1132 0.10 13
Adv Chemistry B 1133 0.10 16
AP Chemistry II 1134 0.20 0
AP Physics C: Mechanics 1142 0.20 4
AP Physics C: Electricity & Magnetism 1144 0.20 1
AP US History 1202 0.20 12
History of Philosophy II 1234 0.10 9
Architectural Design (Drafting II) 1320 0.20 10
Computer Int Manf (CIM) 1326 0.20 12
Vocational Metals 1344 0.20 6
4/11/2007- budget reductions
Floral Design and Horticulture 102 0.10 18
Vetrinary Science 1 112 0.10 18
Combined Visual Arts 200 0.10 19
Desktop Publishing 312 0.10 14
International Business & Marketing 316 0.10 17
Culinary II 418 0.10 17
French 5 508 0.20 12
German 4 516 0.20 16
German 5 518 0.20 1
Journalism 620 0.20 16
Advanced Theatre 630 0.10 20
Marketing II CO-OP 326 0.20 20
Algebra & Trigonomety A 713 0.20 15
Honors Earth Science 1102 0.10 19
Botany 1130 0.10 14
DS Middle East 1238 0.10 16
Intro to Aviation 1308 0.10 18
Electronics 3 1314 0.20 10
Pre-Engineering CAD 1322 0.20 9
Principals of Engineering 1324 0.20 14
Intro to Op Sys 1402 0.10 10
CISCO 1 1408 0.10 18
CISCO 2 1410 0.10 13
CISCO 3 1412 0.10 7
CISCO 4 1414 0.10 7
Basic English 9 2002 0.20 5
Basic US History 2004 0.10 2
Cut 4/24/07 - Low Enrollment/Budget
Business Co-Op Classroom 1602 0.20 15
Business Co-Op 1604 0.20 13
Ap Calc BC 728 0.20 12
Tuesday, August 7, 2007
Spring 2007 Election Campaign Finance Reports
On July 20, 2007 all Campaign Finance Reports for the Spring 2007 elections were due. Here is some summary information on the 6 School Board candidates as well as the Political Action Committee (PAC) for the failed referendum.
OUR SCHOOLS OUR FUTURE ( REFERENDUM PAC)
Total money raised was slightly less than $10,000
Total money spent was approx. $9,000 so, presumably there is about $1,000 left for the next time.
Contributions greater than $100 were:
Brent Wogahn: $1,000
Eau Claire Student Transit: $1,000 (the bus company for the district)
WEAC: $1,000
AFT: $1,000
Eau Claire Anesthesiologists: $500 (JoAnne Evans' husband's employer)
Market and Johnson: $500
Richard Baer: $500 (owner of Avalon Florist)
Carol Olson: $500
RBC Dain Rauscher: $300
JoAnne Evans: $250
Bonni Knight: $250 (teacher and organizer of One Voice group)
Mark Faanes: $250 (Ken Faanes' brother, also employes at Wipfli who does the ECASD audit)
Huebsch: $250
Sharon Manz: $250 (also employed at EC Anesthesia)
Landmark Company: $250
Dell Construction: $250
Ayres Associates: $250
Kimera Way: $125
George Clay II: $150
SDS Architects: $150
Expenditures greater than $400 (total)
L&M Mail Service mailings: $3,188
Leader Telegram ads: $2,540
Copying: $1,149
Yard signs: $1,139
*************************************
MIKE BOLLINGER
No donations. He spent $3,394.35 of his own money for his campaign.
Expenditures greater than $100
Leader Telegram ads: $2,254
Yard signs: $868
Copies, printing: $146
**************************************
KEN FAANES
Approx. $450 in small donations from 8 people (all $100 or less).
He spent $2,809 of his own money for his campaign.
Expenditures greater than $100
Leader Telegram ads: $2, 093
Yard signs: $868
Copies, printing: $165
*******************************************
MARIA HENLY
Total receipts: approx. $4,500 (cash)
Donations greater than $100:
Wisconsin People Conference: $500
EC Area Educators: $500
Progressive Majority of WI: $462 (in-kind donation of voter lists)
Maria Henly: $358 (total out of pocket)
Karen Schreiter: $200
Jill Barland: $175
Ruth Rosauer: $150
Jane Lindsay: $150
plus 41 donations of $100 or less
Expenditures greater than $100
Leader Telegram ads: $1,109
Printing/copying: $829
Yard signs: $763
Volume One Ads: $756
Stickers: $300
Senior Review ad: $300
T-shirts: $286
**********************************
BOB JANKE
Mr. Janke declared that his campaign cost less than $1,000 so there is no requirement to file a State Elections Board Finance report.
***********************************
TERRI STANLEY
Total Receipts: $1,465 (cash)
Donations greater than $100
AFSCME: $500
Jim Moessner: $250
Progressive Majority of WI: $462 (in kind voter lists)
Expenditures greater than $100
Yard Signs: $586
Printing: $497
Campaign workers: $320
**********************************
BRENT WOGAHN
Total expenditures of $3,425. All funded by the candidate.
Expenses greater than $100:
Leader Telegram ads: $2,214
Yard Signs: $980
Printing: $197
*******************************************
Election Results
Referendum YES: 6,388
NO: 8,026
Faanes: 7,366
Bollinger: 6,570
Wogahn: 6,226
Henly: 5,903
Stanley: 5,407
Janke: 4,636
All election pundits are welcome to dissect this information and give us their analysis!
OUR SCHOOLS OUR FUTURE ( REFERENDUM PAC)
Total money raised was slightly less than $10,000
Total money spent was approx. $9,000 so, presumably there is about $1,000 left for the next time.
Contributions greater than $100 were:
Brent Wogahn: $1,000
Eau Claire Student Transit: $1,000 (the bus company for the district)
WEAC: $1,000
AFT: $1,000
Eau Claire Anesthesiologists: $500 (JoAnne Evans' husband's employer)
Market and Johnson: $500
Richard Baer: $500 (owner of Avalon Florist)
Carol Olson: $500
RBC Dain Rauscher: $300
JoAnne Evans: $250
Bonni Knight: $250 (teacher and organizer of One Voice group)
Mark Faanes: $250 (Ken Faanes' brother, also employes at Wipfli who does the ECASD audit)
Huebsch: $250
Sharon Manz: $250 (also employed at EC Anesthesia)
Landmark Company: $250
Dell Construction: $250
Ayres Associates: $250
Kimera Way: $125
George Clay II: $150
SDS Architects: $150
Expenditures greater than $400 (total)
L&M Mail Service mailings: $3,188
Leader Telegram ads: $2,540
Copying: $1,149
Yard signs: $1,139
*************************************
MIKE BOLLINGER
No donations. He spent $3,394.35 of his own money for his campaign.
Expenditures greater than $100
Leader Telegram ads: $2,254
Yard signs: $868
Copies, printing: $146
**************************************
KEN FAANES
Approx. $450 in small donations from 8 people (all $100 or less).
He spent $2,809 of his own money for his campaign.
Expenditures greater than $100
Leader Telegram ads: $2, 093
Yard signs: $868
Copies, printing: $165
*******************************************
MARIA HENLY
Total receipts: approx. $4,500 (cash)
Donations greater than $100:
Wisconsin People Conference: $500
EC Area Educators: $500
Progressive Majority of WI: $462 (in-kind donation of voter lists)
Maria Henly: $358 (total out of pocket)
Karen Schreiter: $200
Jill Barland: $175
Ruth Rosauer: $150
Jane Lindsay: $150
plus 41 donations of $100 or less
Expenditures greater than $100
Leader Telegram ads: $1,109
Printing/copying: $829
Yard signs: $763
Volume One Ads: $756
Stickers: $300
Senior Review ad: $300
T-shirts: $286
**********************************
BOB JANKE
Mr. Janke declared that his campaign cost less than $1,000 so there is no requirement to file a State Elections Board Finance report.
***********************************
TERRI STANLEY
Total Receipts: $1,465 (cash)
Donations greater than $100
AFSCME: $500
Jim Moessner: $250
Progressive Majority of WI: $462 (in kind voter lists)
Expenditures greater than $100
Yard Signs: $586
Printing: $497
Campaign workers: $320
**********************************
BRENT WOGAHN
Total expenditures of $3,425. All funded by the candidate.
Expenses greater than $100:
Leader Telegram ads: $2,214
Yard Signs: $980
Printing: $197
*******************************************
Election Results
Referendum YES: 6,388
NO: 8,026
Faanes: 7,366
Bollinger: 6,570
Wogahn: 6,226
Henly: 5,903
Stanley: 5,407
Janke: 4,636
All election pundits are welcome to dissect this information and give us their analysis!
Public Comment Policy
Please see below an e-mail that I wrote to the BOE members and Sup. Leary requesting that the public receive more information in advance of BOE meetings to make their comments to the board both meaningful and intelligent. We did make a little progress at the following Aug. 6th Work Session and BOE meeting as there were adequate copies of information available for the public. There also was an Agenda item about the BoardDocs technology and there will be a demo presentation in the future.
Sadly, the silly Public Comment policy requiring the public to comment before the information is presented continued. A community member who came to offer comments and was unaware of the policy change really struggled with the demand that she make her comments without any information. I can't believe that BOE members watching and listening to her felt comfortable or satisfied with the resulting discomfort and unhappiness that this created. Pres. O'Brien told her that she could come back in 2 weeks to comment on the presentation of information that occurred later in the Agenda.
Well, what is one more voter who is concerned enough to attend a meeting and rewarded with the cold shoulder of the new policy. At least she is in a really big club!
Dear BOE members and Dr. Leary,
I am writing to ask you to respond to what I believe is a completely
reasonable request that I have made numerous times. That is, that
community members be given IN ADVANCE as much information as is
available to BOE members about the topics on the Regular Meeting
Agenda. At the very least, would it be possible for paper copies of
the material being presented at the meeting to be available to
citizens in attendance? To attempt to follow overhead projections
that tend to be out of focus and moving is, again, not reasonable.
If you honestly believe the statement that is printed on the back of
the Agenda "Your presence here is always welcome. We hope that your
visit will prove to be enjoyable and enlightening." then you will make
your citizen guests feel included and part of the process rather than
only spectators.
With the recent change in policy in the timing of Public Comment to be
at the beginning of every meeting rather than during the normal
discussion time when the information has been presented, it makes
community member attendance and participation at the meetings
meaningless. To expect community members to attend a meeting based on
2 or 3 words on the Agenda and then to wait and listen to a
presentation and be required to return 2 weeks later to make a comment
is NOT REASONABLE and continues the sad history of exclusion that has
been a salient feature of the leadership of the ECASD BOE.
Commissioner Cummins has brought up during 4 meetings the Board Docs
technology that is used by many public entities to make information
widely available to citizens . I have attached a link that will show
you how this could be used by the ECASD to expand citizen
participation and information. I am asking that this be a discussion
item on a future Agenda for the BOE as well.
Website: http://www.boarddocs.com/
Also, I am attaching a link to a website that contains a list of
information that should be routinely available to citizens on the
School District website. (http://www.illinoisloop.org/candor.html)
Needless to say, the ECASD website is missing many of these items.
Thank you for your attention to this issue. I hope that I hear from
you in response to my questions.
Sincerely,
Maria Henly
and an e-mail from Laura Jensen regarding the same concerns about Pres. O'Brien's new Public Comment Policy:
Greetings to Dr Leary and to the Eau Claire Board of
Education:
First of all, I want to whole-heartedly welcome Dr
Leary to the Eau Claire school district. After only
one meeting, I can tell that he has the skills, tools,
and experience to begin a process that has been sadly
lacking in this school district for many years. I
wish him all the luck in the world.
I did not get up to speak at your meeting on Monday
because I had already said my bit at a previous
meeting. The *content* of Monday's meeting made me
realize, yet again, how utterly ridiculous your
so-called "citizen input" model for board meetings
really is.
This model appears to be designed not to actually
allow the public to provide meaningful input to the
board, but to minimize the time that the board spends
at meetings, while appearing to be accepting public
input. To allow the public a few minutes (fifteen,
thirty) of time at the beginning of meetings to
respond to a list of three-to-seven-word agenda items
*before* the board discusses them is beyond
ridiculous. How can we respond to a discussion that
hasn't even happened yet? The problem is independent
from the availability of good agendas and supporting
documentation. Even with the best agenda in the
world, the public would not be able to effectively
predict the course the board's discussion would take.
At the meeting on Monday, I counted *ten* different
time when I could have added to the discussion, either
as a parent of children in the school district, or as
an educator with two years of experience using
Infinite Campus (one of your SIS candidates), or as a
former computer programmer with experience in phasing
complex projects. I was prevented from commenting on
these topics - none of which was listed in detail in
an agenda item.
I am afraid that you, as a board, do not realize that
as elected public officials in the state of Wisconsin,
you have signed up for long public meetings. When you
were running for office, you may have been assured by
previous office-holders that the meetings could be
kept short by such artificial means as your citizen
input policy, but I believe that those assurances were
misguided. As I said to you in June, you have a very
serious problem with the public trust, and you need to
be making yourselves *more* available in a *more
meaningful* way to the public, not less.
I respectfully request that you reconsider the policy
on citizen input at your meetings, to allow citizens
to respond to each agenda item as it is discussed, to
allow an unlimited number of citizens to speak. The
chair of the meeting may need to exercise his or her
people skills in gently limiting the time of
particularly verbose public members, and of keeping
them to the topic at hand. I believe, though, that
you will find that the flow of ideas between the board
and the public will increase the public trust, and
will be a worthwhile investment of your time. I
encourage you to refer to the meetings of the Eau
Claire City Council and the Plan Commission for ideas
about how to conduct these meetings.
Sincerely,
- Laura E. Jensen
Sadly, the silly Public Comment policy requiring the public to comment before the information is presented continued. A community member who came to offer comments and was unaware of the policy change really struggled with the demand that she make her comments without any information. I can't believe that BOE members watching and listening to her felt comfortable or satisfied with the resulting discomfort and unhappiness that this created. Pres. O'Brien told her that she could come back in 2 weeks to comment on the presentation of information that occurred later in the Agenda.
Well, what is one more voter who is concerned enough to attend a meeting and rewarded with the cold shoulder of the new policy. At least she is in a really big club!
Dear BOE members and Dr. Leary,
I am writing to ask you to respond to what I believe is a completely
reasonable request that I have made numerous times. That is, that
community members be given IN ADVANCE as much information as is
available to BOE members about the topics on the Regular Meeting
Agenda. At the very least, would it be possible for paper copies of
the material being presented at the meeting to be available to
citizens in attendance? To attempt to follow overhead projections
that tend to be out of focus and moving is, again, not reasonable.
If you honestly believe the statement that is printed on the back of
the Agenda "Your presence here is always welcome. We hope that your
visit will prove to be enjoyable and enlightening." then you will make
your citizen guests feel included and part of the process rather than
only spectators.
With the recent change in policy in the timing of Public Comment to be
at the beginning of every meeting rather than during the normal
discussion time when the information has been presented, it makes
community member attendance and participation at the meetings
meaningless. To expect community members to attend a meeting based on
2 or 3 words on the Agenda and then to wait and listen to a
presentation and be required to return 2 weeks later to make a comment
is NOT REASONABLE and continues the sad history of exclusion that has
been a salient feature of the leadership of the ECASD BOE.
Commissioner Cummins has brought up during 4 meetings the Board Docs
technology that is used by many public entities to make information
widely available to citizens . I have attached a link that will show
you how this could be used by the ECASD to expand citizen
participation and information. I am asking that this be a discussion
item on a future Agenda for the BOE as well.
Website: http://www.boarddocs.com/
Also, I am attaching a link to a website that contains a list of
information that should be routinely available to citizens on the
School District website. (http://www.illinoisloop.org/candor.html)
Needless to say, the ECASD website is missing many of these items.
Thank you for your attention to this issue. I hope that I hear from
you in response to my questions.
Sincerely,
Maria Henly
and an e-mail from Laura Jensen regarding the same concerns about Pres. O'Brien's new Public Comment Policy:
Greetings to Dr Leary and to the Eau Claire Board of
Education:
First of all, I want to whole-heartedly welcome Dr
Leary to the Eau Claire school district. After only
one meeting, I can tell that he has the skills, tools,
and experience to begin a process that has been sadly
lacking in this school district for many years. I
wish him all the luck in the world.
I did not get up to speak at your meeting on Monday
because I had already said my bit at a previous
meeting. The *content* of Monday's meeting made me
realize, yet again, how utterly ridiculous your
so-called "citizen input" model for board meetings
really is.
This model appears to be designed not to actually
allow the public to provide meaningful input to the
board, but to minimize the time that the board spends
at meetings, while appearing to be accepting public
input. To allow the public a few minutes (fifteen,
thirty) of time at the beginning of meetings to
respond to a list of three-to-seven-word agenda items
*before* the board discusses them is beyond
ridiculous. How can we respond to a discussion that
hasn't even happened yet? The problem is independent
from the availability of good agendas and supporting
documentation. Even with the best agenda in the
world, the public would not be able to effectively
predict the course the board's discussion would take.
At the meeting on Monday, I counted *ten* different
time when I could have added to the discussion, either
as a parent of children in the school district, or as
an educator with two years of experience using
Infinite Campus (one of your SIS candidates), or as a
former computer programmer with experience in phasing
complex projects. I was prevented from commenting on
these topics - none of which was listed in detail in
an agenda item.
I am afraid that you, as a board, do not realize that
as elected public officials in the state of Wisconsin,
you have signed up for long public meetings. When you
were running for office, you may have been assured by
previous office-holders that the meetings could be
kept short by such artificial means as your citizen
input policy, but I believe that those assurances were
misguided. As I said to you in June, you have a very
serious problem with the public trust, and you need to
be making yourselves *more* available in a *more
meaningful* way to the public, not less.
I respectfully request that you reconsider the policy
on citizen input at your meetings, to allow citizens
to respond to each agenda item as it is discussed, to
allow an unlimited number of citizens to speak. The
chair of the meeting may need to exercise his or her
people skills in gently limiting the time of
particularly verbose public members, and of keeping
them to the topic at hand. I believe, though, that
you will find that the flow of ideas between the board
and the public will increase the public trust, and
will be a worthwhile investment of your time. I
encourage you to refer to the meetings of the Eau
Claire City Council and the Plan Commission for ideas
about how to conduct these meetings.
Sincerely,
- Laura E. Jensen
Thursday, July 26, 2007
Tax Sheltered Annuities
Tax Sheltered Annuities (TSA's) have worked their way into the ECASD Administrative compensation system over the last several years. TSA's are completely legal and offer employers a method to compensate certain employees that result in cost savings (lower employment taxes) for both the employer and the employee. It is a compensation method that is used widely in other private companies to both attract and retain employees that are highly sought after in the recruiting process. For example, a TSA for $10,000 per year saves the employer their portion of FICA and it saves the employee their portion of FICA, state income tax, and federal income tax. For many highly compensated individuals in the higher tax brackets, this makes a $10,000 TSA worth nearly $15,000 in regular taxable compensation.
(This discussion of TSA's refers only to those annuity contracts that are paid by the employer rather than other TSA's that are offered to virtually all employees as a way to defer current income.)
The ECASD as an employer must be competitive to attract and retain the best employees. This includes teachers as well as Administrators. I am not an expert in compensation analysis and I do not have the data to say that any of our employee groups are over or underpaid in comparison to their counterparts in other parts of Wisconsin or other states. That is a separate discussion and I invite others with more knowledge to inform the rest of us.
However, I think that the use of TSA's and their cost to taxpayers should be disclosed and understood by our community. In my experience, TSA's are negotiated at the time an employment contract is being made. They should be specific to an individual, the requirements of the position and the experience and value to the organization of the future employee. The ECASD has a few of these types of TSA's in use currently:
Former Supt. Klaus negotiated one for $10,926 for the 2006-07 school year
Dan Van de Water negotiated a TSA for $11,453 for 06-07 to be in lieu of a payment to the state retirement system
Jim Kling negotiated a $21,437 TSA for 06-07 to be in lieu of both a retirement contribution and to cover dental and health insurance costs that are not being paid by the ECASD
My comments are extremely blunt about this:
If former superintendent Klaus was threatening to leave the ECASD unless this compensation "bonus" was paid, the BOE should have handed him his hat and wished him well. I don't know how long this TSA has been in his contract but the BOE should have saved it and either negotiated for a top notch leader with energy and ideas or hired a good reading specialist for a classroom.
My experience with Mr. Van de Water is a perfect illustration of how a TSA should ideally be used to hire a well qualified and experienced person who, without the TSA in his contract, would have sought and found other work opportunities in another district. He is worth every penny for the contributions he has made to the district in terms of putting together a budget and financial projections in a way that has not been done in the past.
I have not worked directly with Mr. Kling but have heard other comments that lead me to believe that his experience and contribution to the district merit a negotiated TSA since the ECASD is saving dollars that would otherwise be paid for retirement and health care costs.
However, there is another aspect of the use of TSA's in the ECASD Administrative compensation that I find to be questionable. That is the automatic inclusion of a district paid TSA in the compensation for certain POSITIONS, not individual employees. Currently, there are 8 such TSA's in the following amounts that are included in the following positions NO MATTER WHO IS IN THE POSITION AND NO MATTER WHAT THEIR PERFORMANCE IS.
$3,500 for the Deputy Superintendent
$2,700 for the Exec. Director of Information Technology
$2,700 for the Exec. Director of Student Services
$2,700 for the Exec. Director of Personnel
$2,700 for the Exec. Director of Business Services
$2,700 for the Principal of North High School
$2,700 for the Principal of Memorial High School
$3,000 for the Assistant/Secretary to the Superintendent
Again, I do not know if this is standard and comparable to other Administrative compensation packages but it is troubling to me to see TSA's used in a way that is not for attracting, retaining or rewarding individuals based on performance evaluations.
(This discussion of TSA's refers only to those annuity contracts that are paid by the employer rather than other TSA's that are offered to virtually all employees as a way to defer current income.)
The ECASD as an employer must be competitive to attract and retain the best employees. This includes teachers as well as Administrators. I am not an expert in compensation analysis and I do not have the data to say that any of our employee groups are over or underpaid in comparison to their counterparts in other parts of Wisconsin or other states. That is a separate discussion and I invite others with more knowledge to inform the rest of us.
However, I think that the use of TSA's and their cost to taxpayers should be disclosed and understood by our community. In my experience, TSA's are negotiated at the time an employment contract is being made. They should be specific to an individual, the requirements of the position and the experience and value to the organization of the future employee. The ECASD has a few of these types of TSA's in use currently:
Former Supt. Klaus negotiated one for $10,926 for the 2006-07 school year
Dan Van de Water negotiated a TSA for $11,453 for 06-07 to be in lieu of a payment to the state retirement system
Jim Kling negotiated a $21,437 TSA for 06-07 to be in lieu of both a retirement contribution and to cover dental and health insurance costs that are not being paid by the ECASD
My comments are extremely blunt about this:
If former superintendent Klaus was threatening to leave the ECASD unless this compensation "bonus" was paid, the BOE should have handed him his hat and wished him well. I don't know how long this TSA has been in his contract but the BOE should have saved it and either negotiated for a top notch leader with energy and ideas or hired a good reading specialist for a classroom.
My experience with Mr. Van de Water is a perfect illustration of how a TSA should ideally be used to hire a well qualified and experienced person who, without the TSA in his contract, would have sought and found other work opportunities in another district. He is worth every penny for the contributions he has made to the district in terms of putting together a budget and financial projections in a way that has not been done in the past.
I have not worked directly with Mr. Kling but have heard other comments that lead me to believe that his experience and contribution to the district merit a negotiated TSA since the ECASD is saving dollars that would otherwise be paid for retirement and health care costs.
However, there is another aspect of the use of TSA's in the ECASD Administrative compensation that I find to be questionable. That is the automatic inclusion of a district paid TSA in the compensation for certain POSITIONS, not individual employees. Currently, there are 8 such TSA's in the following amounts that are included in the following positions NO MATTER WHO IS IN THE POSITION AND NO MATTER WHAT THEIR PERFORMANCE IS.
$3,500 for the Deputy Superintendent
$2,700 for the Exec. Director of Information Technology
$2,700 for the Exec. Director of Student Services
$2,700 for the Exec. Director of Personnel
$2,700 for the Exec. Director of Business Services
$2,700 for the Principal of North High School
$2,700 for the Principal of Memorial High School
$3,000 for the Assistant/Secretary to the Superintendent
Again, I do not know if this is standard and comparable to other Administrative compensation packages but it is troubling to me to see TSA's used in a way that is not for attracting, retaining or rewarding individuals based on performance evaluations.
Follow Up Comments to letter sent to Luther/Midelfort physicians
The comments below were written by other people in response to Dr. Onuijbo's letter sent to Luther/Midelfort physicians which is included on this blog in an earlier Post in the Miscellaneous category. The responses from different people are separated by asterisks. I am not including the names of the responders in this blog because I have not obtained their permission to do so. Maria
I totally agree.
Another unique point affecting those of us who do not belong to a majority religion is that our choice for private schools is pretty much non existent. We rely even more on public schools. This will likely impact ability to recruit even further. If, when first recruited, I did not believe the school system here was good I would likely have gravitated towards a different town or a bigger city with more private school options. Thanks for raising the issue, I am still struggling with what to do.
**********************************************************
I could not have been more eloquent regarding this cankerworm which appears to be eating deep into the fabric of our public school system here in Eau Claire. I hope your passionate expression will be taken seriously.
******************************************************
I have only been here two months. The main reason I moved to Eau Claire was to escape the rapid decline of schools in Texas. Unfortunately, it looks as if more than the hot weather followed me up here. Without more public awareness, most people without school age children won't fully understand the impact the schools have on everyone's lives. Thank you for voicing what many of us have been complaining about but not acting upon.
**************************************************
Thank you for bringing up such an important issue. There were 2 reasons for me to move to Eau Claire, and good schools was one of the two.
***************************************************
My husband and I also agree 100%. We have been saying this for quite some time, and I am thrilled that you have spoken up publicly, at least to us so far.
We also came here partially because the schools had a good reputation. We will not be for long, however, if this keeps up.
When will this town ever figure that out?
I totally agree.
Another unique point affecting those of us who do not belong to a majority religion is that our choice for private schools is pretty much non existent. We rely even more on public schools. This will likely impact ability to recruit even further. If, when first recruited, I did not believe the school system here was good I would likely have gravitated towards a different town or a bigger city with more private school options. Thanks for raising the issue, I am still struggling with what to do.
**********************************************************
I could not have been more eloquent regarding this cankerworm which appears to be eating deep into the fabric of our public school system here in Eau Claire. I hope your passionate expression will be taken seriously.
******************************************************
I have only been here two months. The main reason I moved to Eau Claire was to escape the rapid decline of schools in Texas. Unfortunately, it looks as if more than the hot weather followed me up here. Without more public awareness, most people without school age children won't fully understand the impact the schools have on everyone's lives. Thank you for voicing what many of us have been complaining about but not acting upon.
**************************************************
Thank you for bringing up such an important issue. There were 2 reasons for me to move to Eau Claire, and good schools was one of the two.
***************************************************
My husband and I also agree 100%. We have been saying this for quite some time, and I am thrilled that you have spoken up publicly, at least to us so far.
We also came here partially because the schools had a good reputation. We will not be for long, however, if this keeps up.
When will this town ever figure that out?
Community Concerns about the ECASD
This letter was written by a Luther/Midelfort physician to his colleagues about concerns about the ECASD and the implications for future recruiting of physicians to work at L/M when the quality of local public education is in question.
I have permission from the author to share it on the blog. Maria
MY OPEN LETTER TO MIDELFORT CLINIC/LUTHER HOSPITAL PHYSICIANS AND SENIOR ADMINISTRATORS
Recent happenings and changes in the Eau Claire School District - My Concerns
A call for Action – Luther Midelfort Corporate Existence May Be At Stake
I humbly seek your full attention as you go through this memo.
We moved to Eau Claire, from Lutherville, MD, in September 2002, for me to take up appointment with Luther Midelfort as a Physician. At the time we (my wife and I) made the choice to transition to Eau Claire, WI, one thought that was clear in our minds was that Eau Claire Area School District (ECASD) Public Schools in general were very good and could offer, at about the highest level, nationally speaking, the necessary range of educational and extracurricular activities including accelerated programs (Gifted and Talented courses), music and band, school sports, special education, and so on, that our children needed.
As our recruiting Staff can attest, since joining Luther Midelfort, I have at various interviews for potential Physician recruits, looked candidates in the eyes and honestly and strongly admonished them that Eau Claire public schools were great and that they should have no concerns about their children’s education if the Physician chose to accept the position.
All that has changed and is changing even as you read this note.
Please read on.
About 2 years ago, there was a District-wide debate about the need for a different grading system for Gifted and Talented programs to streamline ECASD with similar changes taking place in other districts in the country. My wife and I attended the public meetings and made our contributions. My wife actually made a written submission of her research findings on the matter to the ECASD. Suffice it to say that the move was not approved by the EC ASD/School Board.
More recently, about two months ago, a referendum sponsored by the ECASD and the School Board to approve more local funding for the ECASD schools failed. As a result, there have been and will continue to be, at a slow but hemorrhaging pace, ongoing cuts in virtually all the programs and courses offered by ECASD schools. There is a plan to close down an entire school in the ECASD. Teachers will be cut at different levels in all the schools. Janitorial staff will be cut. Courses have been scrapped in all the schools. At Memorial High School, Eau Claire, music, band, accelerated physics, etc have been cut. Classes are now oversized and some courses including core accounting courses have had their credit hours reduced. At a point, the School Board was to cut all Middle School Sports! The current plan is to reduce Teacher Staffing of Sports programs in Middle Schools such that you may end up with one Teacher “coaching” up to 50-100 students, or more. How useful is it for a Teacher-coach in Middle School to teach 50 new 6th graders how to learn to play lawn tennis – some joke!
I can go on and on. If the current slide in ECASD schools is not halted and subsequently reversed, it is my humble submission that very soon, corporate entities in the area including Luther Midelfort can no longer recruit and retain needed trained professionals including physicians, nurses, administrators, etc. The guy who fixes your lawn mower who has lived in Eau Claire for 55 years, all his life, with children and/or grand-children, until recently, could boast of a good education for his kids and grandchildren. That is no more. I can no longer look a Physician interviewee in the eyes and say to him or her, “Come to Eau Claire because the schools are good”!
Is this personal? Yes, if you mean whether we are not very worried about the decline of the schools our children attend. Not personal, if you mean attacking any person or persons either in the ECASD or ECASD School Board. That is not the intent of this memo. We need a concerted community-wide effort to begin to reverse these changes and make ECASD schools great, again. It is my humble submission that Luther Midelfort should play a leading role, here.
Luther Midelfort must be involved in reversing these changes to salvage its corporate future. It is my suggestion that the Practice Committee and/or the Clinic/Hospital Board set up a Committee to look into these issues dispassionately purely from a Corporate perspective without being overtly political in any way. The Committee would develop strategies that the Clinic/Hospital could assist the Eau Claire area Community, in general, and the ECASD, in particular, to retain and eve enhance all the programs that had made ECASD schools stand out here in the Midwest.
Or else, in the not too distant future, it is my prediction that Luther Midelfort will begin to lose already employed Staff at every level, and at the same time, will be unable to attract new ones.
Macaulay A. C. Onuigbo MD FASN
Nephrologist/Transplant Physician
I have permission from the author to share it on the blog. Maria
MY OPEN LETTER TO MIDELFORT CLINIC/LUTHER HOSPITAL PHYSICIANS AND SENIOR ADMINISTRATORS
Recent happenings and changes in the Eau Claire School District - My Concerns
A call for Action – Luther Midelfort Corporate Existence May Be At Stake
I humbly seek your full attention as you go through this memo.
We moved to Eau Claire, from Lutherville, MD, in September 2002, for me to take up appointment with Luther Midelfort as a Physician. At the time we (my wife and I) made the choice to transition to Eau Claire, WI, one thought that was clear in our minds was that Eau Claire Area School District (ECASD) Public Schools in general were very good and could offer, at about the highest level, nationally speaking, the necessary range of educational and extracurricular activities including accelerated programs (Gifted and Talented courses), music and band, school sports, special education, and so on, that our children needed.
As our recruiting Staff can attest, since joining Luther Midelfort, I have at various interviews for potential Physician recruits, looked candidates in the eyes and honestly and strongly admonished them that Eau Claire public schools were great and that they should have no concerns about their children’s education if the Physician chose to accept the position.
All that has changed and is changing even as you read this note.
Please read on.
About 2 years ago, there was a District-wide debate about the need for a different grading system for Gifted and Talented programs to streamline ECASD with similar changes taking place in other districts in the country. My wife and I attended the public meetings and made our contributions. My wife actually made a written submission of her research findings on the matter to the ECASD. Suffice it to say that the move was not approved by the EC ASD/School Board.
More recently, about two months ago, a referendum sponsored by the ECASD and the School Board to approve more local funding for the ECASD schools failed. As a result, there have been and will continue to be, at a slow but hemorrhaging pace, ongoing cuts in virtually all the programs and courses offered by ECASD schools. There is a plan to close down an entire school in the ECASD. Teachers will be cut at different levels in all the schools. Janitorial staff will be cut. Courses have been scrapped in all the schools. At Memorial High School, Eau Claire, music, band, accelerated physics, etc have been cut. Classes are now oversized and some courses including core accounting courses have had their credit hours reduced. At a point, the School Board was to cut all Middle School Sports! The current plan is to reduce Teacher Staffing of Sports programs in Middle Schools such that you may end up with one Teacher “coaching” up to 50-100 students, or more. How useful is it for a Teacher-coach in Middle School to teach 50 new 6th graders how to learn to play lawn tennis – some joke!
I can go on and on. If the current slide in ECASD schools is not halted and subsequently reversed, it is my humble submission that very soon, corporate entities in the area including Luther Midelfort can no longer recruit and retain needed trained professionals including physicians, nurses, administrators, etc. The guy who fixes your lawn mower who has lived in Eau Claire for 55 years, all his life, with children and/or grand-children, until recently, could boast of a good education for his kids and grandchildren. That is no more. I can no longer look a Physician interviewee in the eyes and say to him or her, “Come to Eau Claire because the schools are good”!
Is this personal? Yes, if you mean whether we are not very worried about the decline of the schools our children attend. Not personal, if you mean attacking any person or persons either in the ECASD or ECASD School Board. That is not the intent of this memo. We need a concerted community-wide effort to begin to reverse these changes and make ECASD schools great, again. It is my humble submission that Luther Midelfort should play a leading role, here.
Luther Midelfort must be involved in reversing these changes to salvage its corporate future. It is my suggestion that the Practice Committee and/or the Clinic/Hospital Board set up a Committee to look into these issues dispassionately purely from a Corporate perspective without being overtly political in any way. The Committee would develop strategies that the Clinic/Hospital could assist the Eau Claire area Community, in general, and the ECASD, in particular, to retain and eve enhance all the programs that had made ECASD schools stand out here in the Midwest.
Or else, in the not too distant future, it is my prediction that Luther Midelfort will begin to lose already employed Staff at every level, and at the same time, will be unable to attract new ones.
Macaulay A. C. Onuigbo MD FASN
Nephrologist/Transplant Physician
Thursday, June 28, 2007
Public Schools and the "Business Model"
This article is from the Wall Street Journal (link: http://www.opinionjournal.com/taste/?id=110010241) and was submitted by Karen Peikert. It is lengthy but worthwhile reading.
Another School Dropout
How long can someone with an M.B.A. last in an education bureaucracy?
BY NAOMI SCHAEFER RILEY
Friday, June 22, 2007 12:01 a.m.
When the kids in the Oakland public schools left for summer vacation last week, they did so oblivious to any staff changes at the district's offices. It's not really their concern, for instance, that Barak Ben-Gal, the budget director for the school system, recently decided to become Yahoo!'s director of corporate finance. But when people like Mr. Ben-Gal, who has a bachelor's degree in economics from Harvard and degrees in business and education from Stanford, spend three years trying to change the system and then give up, someone should notice. The people who run the operations and finances of public school districts are not visible the way that teachers are. But as with teachers, recruiting and retaining smart ones is an uphill battle.
After finishing at Stanford in 2004, Mr. Ben-Gal (full disclosure: I know him from college) was accepted into the Broad Residency in Urban Education. Funded by billionaire Eli Broad, the program takes people with J.D.s, M.B.A.s or degrees in public policy and at least four years of work experience and places them in inner-city school districts. When Mr. Ben-Gal started his residency, the Oakland Unified School District was bankrupt. It had been placed under state control, and his first role was as the special assistant to the state administrator. In the subsequent two years he was the executive officer of financial services and then finally the budget director for the whole district.
Today, thanks in some part to his efforts, the district is out of bankruptcy and several foundations have made large grants to Oakland. Now that he has left, though, Mr. Ben-Gal can offer his criticisms of the system. And they are worth understanding, particularly for two reasons.
First, an increasing number of school districts are hiring leaders from business backgrounds. Whether it's Joel Klein, the New York City schools chancellor who was once a corporate lawyer, or Joseph Olchefske, who left investment banking and eventually worked as the superintendent in Seattle for a few years, some businessmen find that running a multimillion- (or multibillion-) dollar school system has a certain appeal. But those thinking of this track should know what they're getting into.
Second, as standards-based education has become more prevalent thanks to No Child Left Behind, "some people may think that the problems in our schools are going to go away," says Frederick Hess, director of education policy studies at the American Enterprise Institute. In fact, he explains, all that information we're collecting about student achievement won't be helpful "if we can't figure out what specifically is improving student achievement and how much it costs." Even if administrators can get all that data, he adds, their hands are often tied.
So, for instance, Mr. Ben-Gal tells me that if a school has a surplus in its textbook fund and needs a new security officer, the money cannot be transferred. Indeed, in many cases, a district administrator won't even know how much money is available until it's too late. Mr. Ben-Gal explains that thanks to the timing of the state budget process, he would not find out about discretionary funds available for, say, a music teacher or a school counselor until halfway through that school year.
The lack of information is not just coming from above; it's coming from below. Principals often don't tell the district that they have a position to fill at their school until a few weeks before the school year begins. Why? According to the collective bargaining agreement, every teacher under contract has the right to work someplace in the school district. If a principal doesn't want a particular teacher, the district still owes him a job. A principal would rather start the year with no teacher in the classroom than take the one who has been cut from another school.
And the clerical union is like the teachers' one. Seniority, not competence, gets people promoted. Mr. Ben-Gal reports, "There were people in accounting [who] didn't know the difference between a debit and credit." And the administrators? As Mr. Hess explains, administrators are almost entirely former classroom educators. "There is nothing in their background that would lead you to believe they'd be good managers of teams of adults." Mr. Hess, who has done extensive studies of the way principals are trained, says that they are not getting any kind of education in these areas once they move out of the classroom, either.
Even if you can assemble a team of competent people (and somehow hold on to them without offering merit raises), Mr. Ben-Gal notes that you are still constrained in ways that would be unimaginable in the private sector. For instance, he compares the operations of his local school board with the board of a corporation. "Corporate boards look at big-picture governance. They ask, 'What are the major milestones our CEO should be achieving?' Board conversations are held behind closed doors because the board members are supposed to act as trusted advisers."
By contrast, the Oakland board, like most school committees, has all of its meetings televised. Every contract, no matter how minuscule, must be put to a vote. And every financial decision has to be put on hold while waiting for a monthly board meeting. As for its members acting as trusted advisers, Mr. Ben-Gal assures me that thanks to the public nature of its meetings, "the school board typically knows less than what the staff knows."
In principle, smart businessmen should want to enter this field. As Mr. Olchefske, the former Seattle superintendent, tells me: "These are fascinating, complex jobs. There are academic goals, financial goals, a lot of balls to juggle. The skills you develop are applicable in other environments."
Mr. Ben-Gal, at age 31, was overseeing the budget of an $850 million organization with 5,500 employees, $150 million in construction projects, security officers, mail carriers, nurses and bus drivers. The results-based budgeting system Mr. Ben-Gal helped institute became the subject of a case study at Berkeley's business school and spawned a case competition with seven other institutions to develop recommendations to help districts tackle similar issues. (New York and Chicago later consulted heavily with Oakland on their own budgeting reforms.) How was this news taken by Mr. Ben-Gal's colleagues? He tells me it was a "morale hit." People asked, "Why do we need to bring in outsiders to solve our problems?"
To this day, he remains amazed that the effort to "attract and draw more talent into the sector was not well received." When asked why he left, Mr. Ben-Gal cites various structural problems as well as a "lack of professional mentorship." He advises newcomers from the business arena to make sure they find a supervisor "who can make use of their skills. . . . Otherwise someone coming in might feel frustrated and underutilized."
Mr. Ben-Gal took a 50% pay cut when he came to the district. But he has no regrets about that. He says he didn't join for the money. And he didn't leave for it either.
Ms. Riley is The Wall Street Journal's deputy Taste editor.
Another School Dropout
How long can someone with an M.B.A. last in an education bureaucracy?
BY NAOMI SCHAEFER RILEY
Friday, June 22, 2007 12:01 a.m.
When the kids in the Oakland public schools left for summer vacation last week, they did so oblivious to any staff changes at the district's offices. It's not really their concern, for instance, that Barak Ben-Gal, the budget director for the school system, recently decided to become Yahoo!'s director of corporate finance. But when people like Mr. Ben-Gal, who has a bachelor's degree in economics from Harvard and degrees in business and education from Stanford, spend three years trying to change the system and then give up, someone should notice. The people who run the operations and finances of public school districts are not visible the way that teachers are. But as with teachers, recruiting and retaining smart ones is an uphill battle.
After finishing at Stanford in 2004, Mr. Ben-Gal (full disclosure: I know him from college) was accepted into the Broad Residency in Urban Education. Funded by billionaire Eli Broad, the program takes people with J.D.s, M.B.A.s or degrees in public policy and at least four years of work experience and places them in inner-city school districts. When Mr. Ben-Gal started his residency, the Oakland Unified School District was bankrupt. It had been placed under state control, and his first role was as the special assistant to the state administrator. In the subsequent two years he was the executive officer of financial services and then finally the budget director for the whole district.
Today, thanks in some part to his efforts, the district is out of bankruptcy and several foundations have made large grants to Oakland. Now that he has left, though, Mr. Ben-Gal can offer his criticisms of the system. And they are worth understanding, particularly for two reasons.
First, an increasing number of school districts are hiring leaders from business backgrounds. Whether it's Joel Klein, the New York City schools chancellor who was once a corporate lawyer, or Joseph Olchefske, who left investment banking and eventually worked as the superintendent in Seattle for a few years, some businessmen find that running a multimillion- (or multibillion-) dollar school system has a certain appeal. But those thinking of this track should know what they're getting into.
Second, as standards-based education has become more prevalent thanks to No Child Left Behind, "some people may think that the problems in our schools are going to go away," says Frederick Hess, director of education policy studies at the American Enterprise Institute. In fact, he explains, all that information we're collecting about student achievement won't be helpful "if we can't figure out what specifically is improving student achievement and how much it costs." Even if administrators can get all that data, he adds, their hands are often tied.
So, for instance, Mr. Ben-Gal tells me that if a school has a surplus in its textbook fund and needs a new security officer, the money cannot be transferred. Indeed, in many cases, a district administrator won't even know how much money is available until it's too late. Mr. Ben-Gal explains that thanks to the timing of the state budget process, he would not find out about discretionary funds available for, say, a music teacher or a school counselor until halfway through that school year.
The lack of information is not just coming from above; it's coming from below. Principals often don't tell the district that they have a position to fill at their school until a few weeks before the school year begins. Why? According to the collective bargaining agreement, every teacher under contract has the right to work someplace in the school district. If a principal doesn't want a particular teacher, the district still owes him a job. A principal would rather start the year with no teacher in the classroom than take the one who has been cut from another school.
And the clerical union is like the teachers' one. Seniority, not competence, gets people promoted. Mr. Ben-Gal reports, "There were people in accounting [who] didn't know the difference between a debit and credit." And the administrators? As Mr. Hess explains, administrators are almost entirely former classroom educators. "There is nothing in their background that would lead you to believe they'd be good managers of teams of adults." Mr. Hess, who has done extensive studies of the way principals are trained, says that they are not getting any kind of education in these areas once they move out of the classroom, either.
Even if you can assemble a team of competent people (and somehow hold on to them without offering merit raises), Mr. Ben-Gal notes that you are still constrained in ways that would be unimaginable in the private sector. For instance, he compares the operations of his local school board with the board of a corporation. "Corporate boards look at big-picture governance. They ask, 'What are the major milestones our CEO should be achieving?' Board conversations are held behind closed doors because the board members are supposed to act as trusted advisers."
By contrast, the Oakland board, like most school committees, has all of its meetings televised. Every contract, no matter how minuscule, must be put to a vote. And every financial decision has to be put on hold while waiting for a monthly board meeting. As for its members acting as trusted advisers, Mr. Ben-Gal assures me that thanks to the public nature of its meetings, "the school board typically knows less than what the staff knows."
In principle, smart businessmen should want to enter this field. As Mr. Olchefske, the former Seattle superintendent, tells me: "These are fascinating, complex jobs. There are academic goals, financial goals, a lot of balls to juggle. The skills you develop are applicable in other environments."
Mr. Ben-Gal, at age 31, was overseeing the budget of an $850 million organization with 5,500 employees, $150 million in construction projects, security officers, mail carriers, nurses and bus drivers. The results-based budgeting system Mr. Ben-Gal helped institute became the subject of a case study at Berkeley's business school and spawned a case competition with seven other institutions to develop recommendations to help districts tackle similar issues. (New York and Chicago later consulted heavily with Oakland on their own budgeting reforms.) How was this news taken by Mr. Ben-Gal's colleagues? He tells me it was a "morale hit." People asked, "Why do we need to bring in outsiders to solve our problems?"
To this day, he remains amazed that the effort to "attract and draw more talent into the sector was not well received." When asked why he left, Mr. Ben-Gal cites various structural problems as well as a "lack of professional mentorship." He advises newcomers from the business arena to make sure they find a supervisor "who can make use of their skills. . . . Otherwise someone coming in might feel frustrated and underutilized."
Mr. Ben-Gal took a 50% pay cut when he came to the district. But he has no regrets about that. He says he didn't join for the money. And he didn't leave for it either.
Ms. Riley is The Wall Street Journal's deputy Taste editor.
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