| BG Schools looking to fill positions of retiring staff |
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| Written by MARIE THOMAS BAIRD Sentinel Education Editor | |
| Friday, 22 March 2013 09:14 | |
Leaving May 31 will be Daniel Foust, high school guidance; Beverly Agoston, high school special needs; Larry Ensinger, high school math; Lora Jorrey, Kenwood Elementary second grade; Nancy Broz, Ridge Elementary special needs; and Susan "Chip" Harms, sixth-grade reading/science. Deborah Warner, Crim Elementary third grade, will leave Aug. 16. Also, Mike Vannett, athletic director and dean of students, will leave June 21. Superintendent Ann McVey called the list "people for whom education is a passion, not a job." Four other teacher retirements were approved in February. Also announcing her retirement was Lisa Codding, high school guidance secretary. Last year, the board accepted 12 retirement requests, and McVey expects more in the next two years as changes start with State Teacher Retirement System obligations. The district two years ago switched to an online application process, and will use that once open positions are posted internally. The electronic process has benefited the district. "Students graduating from universities today are looking online for openings," said McVey. "We get lots and lots of applications from a very broad area, even out of state," she added. "We are not concerned about being able to find highly qualified candidates for these positions." The problem is narrowing down the several hundred applicants typically received for each position. "We conducted over 80 interviews last year, almost all of them in May," McVey said. "We are very selective over who we offer a position to." Jobs are currently posted internally now, in case staff want to switch positions. All remaining openings will be posted online by mid April. "It's not a given we'll fill every single position" as the district tracks enrollment numbers and class need, she said. There are currently 197 teachers employed in the district. Vannett's position will be more difficult to fill, McVey continued. Vannett, who has been with the district 23 years, move into the position after teaching and coaching in the district. Also at Tuesday's meeting, district Treasurer Rhonda Melchi reported the district has spent $1 million less this year than it had last year at this time. The district is seeing the benefits from the reductions made in teachers and buildings, McVey explained. District resident Ken Gutbrod also took the opportunity to post more information online about how the district spends its money, particularly salaries. By putting out such data, it helps with transparency in the districts, helps taxpayers make informed decisions and stops misinformation. Gutbrod said he does not plan to support the district's May ballot issue without seeing such data. "They (the voters) cannot make an informed voting decision," he said after the meeting. McVey said Wednesday that the district is in the process of updating its Web site and online presence. She didn't commit to posting salaries. "We will definitely give it consideration," she stated. Anyone wanting such information is invited to make a public records request at the Administrative Office on Clough Street. Also at the meeting, the board: • accepted retirement requests from bus drivers Jack Whitacre and Robert Kidd • renewed contracts for principals Martha Fether, Jeff Dever, Gary Keller and Joe Zabowski; and technology coordinator Beth Krolak • recognized a number of student athletes for their accomplishments this year • approved field trip requests from the Key Club to the district convention in Columbus, and FFA students to the state convention, also in Columbus. |
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Comments
Please look beyond newbees right out of college.
I do hope the Board waits to see if the levy passes (doubtful), before hiring all those teachers. I have to wonder how many of these newly RETIRED will get REHIRED?
A final thought......I am not against sick-time per se, just the VERY LARGE cash-out at retirement.
Besides, didn't you see the School Superintendent's remarks about having lots of highly qualified candidates to choose from?
I believe the teachers profession is difficult. But I also know there are some 100 qualified candidates for each open position. Supply and demand does not call for increased compensation.
Also, when a teacher earns a MA, they get paid more, right? How are they held accountable to a higher standard than those just with a BA?!? No one should get paid more simply because they have a slip of paper. They should be held to a higher standard, comensurate with the higher compensation. So how are they held accountable higher than a BA?
If you can't tell/measure the difference between the performance of one with a MA versus a BA, then why pay the higher rate?
In the private sector, you don't get paid more simply because you get a higher degree. You have to demonstrate that you can use the knowledge in your position. We don't have tenure. WE have to perform everyday.
You come uncomfortably close to sounding like you don't think it is fair that people with educations make more than people who don't.
I think is is VERY fair that people with higher educations get paid more...WHEN they perform more complex work or work to a higher standard. Is that what teachers do?
I am a bit baffled that BG resident and you take this basic statement as a sign that they are NOT held to a higher standard, and then try to refute me by citing slackers. There are slackers in every profession, but that is not the standard to judge everybody.
I suspect your definition of accountable is not what the teacher brings to the table in terms of skills, knowledge and experience, but you want to see a concrete translation into improved test scores or something like that. If so, you need to realize that the problem with standardized tests is they often do not reflect the value of what happens in the classroom, because they don't measure a lot of it. The writing exams, for instance, reward "word storms," but not quality or persuasiveness of writing and reasoning. That's why our international competitors don't use tjem but rely instead on comprehensive written and oral examinations.
Incredible amounts of knowledge required? How much knowledge does it take to teach kickball and dodgeball as an elementary PE teacher?
This may be the most strident and extreme anti-education rant you have ever posted.
The good news is that the businesses who are not hiring or are downsizing from fear of Obamacare are in a very small minority. They just get a lot of press.
You need to get a place of your own and watch over the years how slowly your taxes go up and less money coming in. You are what 35' 36. Get married and find out how far your pay check goes. Then realize as a tax payer how you figure out how much you want to pay out. Remember there are other tax levies that demand the whole picture of property taxes not just the schools.
The levy issue is one where the decision is a cost/benefit one between personal economics and possible negative consequences for the district. There is way too much disinformation here and distortion--sometimes in ignorance--of teacher duties and compensation.
The ridiculous claims that earning a masters degree should not entail an increase in pay are a case in point. People seem to think that teachers should only do what they do for the love of it and never expect any financial compensation for extra work they put in.
With health care costs, some family plans already involve a higher (20%) contribution. Also bear in mind that in some cases the health care contribution percentage may correlate to the percentage of overall income that it costs. So asking 2x/3x is asking a big pay cut.
How many people actually get $200K payouts at retirement? It seems you have some exaggerated figures misleading you.
In the end, a high performing and successful school district like BGCS should have good teachers and should be able to pay them competitively. They earn it. And, while there are always warm bodies willing to take jobs in a bad economy, there are not nearly as many truly excellent young education students applying for openings as some people assume. A school might get 900 applications for a job, but there may be 400-500 openings that every candidate is applying for at any given time. With almost 14 million people, Ohio is a big state, And they are not just applying in-state.
People who attack spending on teachers always seem to hold up the slacker as the standard. It isn't. Sure, contract rules make it difficult to fire teachers, but those rules were put in place to prevent arbitrary or politicized firings, and there still mechanisms for phasing poor performers out. BGCS has done a pretty good job--superior to many school districts--in building a competent, dedicated, and hardworking faculty. That needs to be taken into account.
In seeking to hire new faculty, they also have the chance to hire truly good people, because it can be argued that education-degree standards have improved over the past 30 years.
Your point about your Phoenix-educated friend is a cautionary tale about what some in Columbus would like to see: their dream of saving money by increasing online education is a potential boondoggle, ignoring why Phoenix is closing half its campuses. A Columbia U. study recently showed the pass rate in online classes nationwide may be as low as 30%. And the state board of education is rushing to "save money" by trusting in this burgeoning and largely unregulated industry.
What does the Ohio legislature have to do with on-line universities? My experience is the degrees such as those issued by Phoenix are NOT accepted as valid within the private sector, and hence the Phoenix-type institutions cater to the government sector; where the ability to gain and apply knowledge is not an issue. Get a higher degree = more pay. Period. It's a scam. In fact BGCS's had an incident a few years ago where a teacher turned in some 35 on-line credits in one year. The Board had to recognize those credits because there simply is no accountability.
The presumption behind approving pursuit of a masters degree is that the teacher then owes it to the school system to employ the skills learned. It's common sense. But, again, I suspect that you just fundamentally aren't convinced of the value of a masters degree and nothing I say will change your mind.
Your simple division of 184/5 also overlooks the fact that winter and spring breaks, and other holidays, really any days where there is not face-to-face contract time with students are not counted against the 184. You repeat the lie that teachers only work when they are standing in front of a classroom.
If you insist they are part-timers you imply that they should get some other part-time work if they expect full time salary, or maybe they just shouldn't spend any time preparing. Who gets an MA to work part time? That's why our international competitors, with only a few hardly more classroom days, are paid on full-time annual salary, with no calculating of "contract hours."
Americans have always had ambivalent feelings about education, including trusting people less the more degrees they have. Why else would patently ignorant and dishonest radio personalities be so popular and wield such political power?
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