THE GRAVY TRAIN

We were told at the last board meeting that our old superintendent is now making TWO HUNDRED THOUSAND DOLLARS in Boulder Colorado. I'm sure that doesn't include his retirement, vacations and health insurance either. WOW!!! That's more than most doctors, lawyers, dentists and other professionals. What makes a superintendent that valuable? After all, getting a doctorate in education is not comparable to the work that goes into science and math degrees- I know, I have two children that have achieved these. Could it be the magic they are achieving for our students- the wonderful successes they artfully create? Maybe not- when our former superintendent left we had  25% of our high school students not making it to graduation and our district had math scores that were below state average at every grade level.  And just think- this is his jumping off salary- what will he get paid NEXT YEAR?!! Speaking of vacations- our present superintendent that is getting a pile of money just got back from the Dominican Republic where he was building houses for Habitat for Humanity(I guess). Did he get his salary docked or were the people of Helena paying his salary while he wasn't even here? If this position is so valuable how can he just leave for extended periods?

Well, who else is getting this money and job security in this world of annuities? Who are the pretenders to the throne? Well we already know we'll be forced to pay ONE HUNDRED THIRTY FIVE THOUSAND DOLLARS (at the minimum) to start our new superintendent- and we don't know what the benefit package will be but you can count on retirement, healthcare and vacations even if they don't give him the annuity, car and cell phone. Do you think there are other people (not the actual teachers that are actually needed because they actually teach) that are on this gravy train? Maybe there are thousands of programs, grants, and teacher training groups who get money too? Who else gets it and wants more? Food people? Day care people? Mental health people? Planned  Parenthood ? WOW!! THIS COULD GET EXPENSIVE!!

I was at the planning meeting Tuesday night. All the cast of characters were represented from Florence Crittendon to Archie Bray, Myrna Loy, Exploration Works,UM of Helena, the County Health Department and the Helena Education Foundation. They had about thirty special interest groups sign in  under their names.What if all of these people want a part of the pie? What if every non profit is trying to get on the school district payroll? What if they actually want space in the schools and to be on the payroll? Do you think they would do this? WELL.....Youth Connections already has space in our schools (these are the non psychiatrists that do mental health screening of all our high school kids). They told us at a board meeting that their grant is running out in 2013 and they hope to be on the payroll by then!! Gee, why should all these important groups have to worry about fundraising and getting Federal grants when they can just get space in the schools and get right on the bandwagon or GRAVY TRAIN?!!

After all, PLANNED PARENTHOOD now is so involved in education they have a director of education. I guess they know where the money is! I'm just so mean- all these people just care about kids and here I am talking about money!

Well taxpayers are people too, and parents. They agreed to pay for education, not teacher job training and every imaginable non profit and social program. As with the home visiting program talked about on this blog earlier, our schools aren't addressing problems, they're looking for them- kind of like every kid getting free breakfast, lunch and snacks at Bryant, IRREGARDLESS OF THEIR PARENTS INCOME!!! There must be something seriously wrong with our teacher preparation programs in college if teachers immediately need professional training when they start working.

Do taxpayers have the right to expect their needs to be addressed too? They're trying to raise a family or save for retirement or live on a retirement income but the schools just want more money all the time. Property taxes keep going up and the schools put huge pressure on the legislature (even sue them!) to get more money- they wouldn't mind if state income taxes went up- they need the money. Do taxpayers pay Federal Income Tax? You mean those Federal grants aren't free? Well they don't actually have matching fund requirements do they? You mean we have to pay for them? Do they go away after a couple of years and leave the school district with new employees and programs to pay for out of our school budget? I hate to be the bearer of bad news but I do believe that is exactly what happens.

Maybe people should be allowed to raise their own kids and school should be about education. Maybe all these groups should get off the gravy train and go find WORK in the private sector or raise their own money instead of raping the taxpayers. I know they all just do it FOR THE CHILDREN.