news-record.com

Mo continues to impress me.

Wait a minute - wasn't he just hired in September - does he get an automatic salary increase every 6 months - who else gets that kind of treatment???

What is provided to him on his contract?

Another thought on the matter
posted here.
"Don't pat Mo Green on the back for turning down raise"

Anon at 4:07,

The raise would come in July.
Also, you can follow the link above to find out what's in his contract.

In most Company's there is a cut off date to be considered in the next years merit increases. In our Company if you started work in August you could be considered for a possible raise in March of the next year. If you started in September you would not.

That is an very good point on Tony Wilkin's link above. It makes good tax sense. But isn't Mo's package $250,000 cash plus other incentives (which would also be taxable).

Garth are you out there? What is his actual cash salary?

What is the threshold of large incomes with regarding to the Obama plan?

Give the guy a break.

He has done a good thing.

Giving up something that you should not have had in the first place is worthy of note but pales in comparison to what the vast majority of families are giving up. People are our of work, people are taking pay cuts, jobs cannot be found, and I just don't have many tears for some one who just got a whopping pay raise 6 months ago. Wake up. He should have taken a cut not just forgo the raise.

It was a decent gesture, no tax benefits, Ribar on other thread has it right. It was also a good political move as well. Is it possible that something good can be good all around?

Mo has suggested that we are in tough times and we all need to tighten our belts. The best leaders lead by example.

yes.

I think it was a good move, for many reasons; however I am bothered by the regionalization of the county. If the Rhino has anywhere the near correct figures from CMS and we are going down that path the money is just not going to be there. In CMS they spent almost 9 million to implement, staff, get property etc for their plan. That is a huge amount. We can't cut the classroom teachers etc to do this plan.

I am not questioning the merit of the proposal (although the questionaire that we responded to about what we would want was strange) I question the money involved in this tough time.

Paul, you mention "belt tightening".

I compared my three decade-old yearbook (from a pre-merger Guilford County high school) against my daughter's yearbook from last year.

Excluding teachers, janitorial staff, and the "lunch ladies", it appears there are at least twice as many school-based "front office" personnel as there used to be.

The outcomes haven't noticeably improved.

Looks like the central office's gift for flab has pushed down to the school-based level.

topheavy...

I miss the days from three decades ago....reality check...times have changed!

Did you compare the number of students?

When I graduated there was around 600 students in the same building that now holds 1200 and climbing...overcrowded hallways, cafeterias, classrooms..

We averaged about three fights a year....now they have around that many before the first bell rings a day!

We had a Principal and a Vice Principal....

They have a Principal and two Vice Principals...
We had two counselors....they have four.

Front office staff we had 1 secretary...they have two that cover the front desk and answer the phones from 7 - 5 with a split shift.

So you are talking about having 500 more students which in my day was equivalent to a school building with principal and entire staff vs
1 additional vice principal and two counselors.

If someone was needed to take care of a fight the football coaches were allowed to seperate it and take care of the punishment right there...now they would be fired or sued....so we must hire a Sheriff and throw them in jail....a sound paddling is not sounding so bad now is it.....

We have students that come to school that have not had a meal all weekend and maybe no where to sleep....there are over 800 homeless students in our schools....so we need a social worker on sight.

Doesn't sound too top heavy when you look at the whole picture.....does it?

Mo...thank you....

No good deed will ever go unquestioned...but you did the right thing....

The raise after taxes is a drop in the bucket for Mo. It was indeed a nice gesture and sets a good example.

Jeff...

It's snowing...new topic?

I know the law requires the students to attend
school so many days....but why are these days not built into the year better.

Am I the only parent that has noticed that
after AP exams and EOC testing is over...
.....learning is over...Teachers stop teaching and start baby sitting...

Absolutely...nothing has ever been accomplished in our schools on days that are added to the end of the school year......

It is normally so chaotic the last week of school that I routinely check my child out permanently for his safety and my peace of mind.

This is never a problem because the teachers have already taken up the books and are no longer turning in absences...(They probably will not publicly admit this, but I have seen it for 5 years)

He can watch movies at home and I don't have to worry about the chaos that is going on.

Anyone experience the same conditions?

With the state mandating so many 'protected days' it is hard to build in enough days, but what about the law about school having to be over before June 10.. does that not count make up days. Should we be looking at Saturday's or taking some of spring break? Should the BOE change the proposed make up days. I think we took some of spring break, parents would scream. I hate to think about school going to mid June (of course Seniors graduate way before that) and the above poster is correct. After EOC's and for most AP's school is over. Some AP teachers also give a final (what for? Isn't studying for the AP enough?) Books are taken up at least a week before school is out, in elementary school, the year end parties happen, in HS exams... I hope we go tomorrow or the make up day is June 15th a Monday which screws up the entire week for families if they want to take a week vacation.

Debora,

You always make so much sense, i.e., your comments regarding cost of regionalization and CMS high costs to do this. I believe for many reason it sounds like a great plan when you look at the various needs of this county - students in the "country", city and suburbs. Many of the needs are very different. Also the size of the county, when you consider as far as Gibsonville to South High Point. (Deb, does GCS still have the policy in effect where you bus students to their "current" school if they move to the other end of the county?) It sounds great in theory, but where is the money coming from in these tough economic times?

My husband made a very interesting comment over lunch today. He said, "Isn't it ironic that 10-15 years ago the school systems all merged to one big county system. Now they are going back to where they were. I guess merger didn't work." (his words) We all know promises were made for the county merging which could not be delivered.

Deb, with regard to your other comment about June 15. They can tack on that day but you and I know how many teachers and students will actually show up. People won't reschedule their vacations over one day. It's the same with Spring Break. If they take a day off there, kids will just be "sick" one day.

Debora,

You always make so much sense, i.e., your comments regarding cost of regionalization and CMS high costs to do this. I believe for many reason it sounds like a great plan when you look at the various needs of this county - students in the "country", city and suburbs. Many of the needs are very different. Also the size of the county, when you consider as far as Gibsonville to South High Point. (Deb, does GCS still have the policy in effect where you bus students to their "current" school if they move to the other end of the county?)
My husband made a very interesting comment over lunch today. He said, "Isn't it ironic that 10-15 years ago the school systems all merged to one big county system. Now they are going back to where they were. I guess merger didn't work." (his words) We all know promises were made for the county merging which could not be delivered. It sounds great in theory but where is the money coming from?

Deb, with regard to your other comment about June 15. They can tack on that day but you and I know how many teachers and students will actually show up. People won't reschedule their vacations over one day. It's the same with Spring Break. If they take a day off there, kids will just be "sick" one day.

Sorry folks. I was previewing and posted to early. Last comments are the correct version.

p.s. I never realized how huge this county was until I had to deliver some papers to Anita's house after the huge SW assembly regarding the "Choice" Plan. I told her at the time, "No wonder it's so hard to meet everyone's needs. The school district is so big and the demographics are so different."

Reality Check, the high school I'm comparing had 900 students then, and 1,100 now.

Unlike the private sector, monopolistic bureaucracies consider themselves successful when they grow their payrolls.

There is a better way; even Mo's said as much:

http://www.newsweek.com/id/177203

topheavy,

I suspect Reality Check is a BOE member or past member. He/she makes some excellent point. The article you noted also speak the truth. A teacher is afraid to "call down" a student for fear of being sued. There is way too much bureucracy and red tape. And yes, we are too top heavy. We need more people in the trenches working with the ever growing number of diverse student. We don't need more chiefs.

Barbara Ann,
we still have "home court advantage" or some such name, where in 10 of the most impacted schools, if students move we provide transportation back to that school so that their studies aren't interupted. Sounds good, but we need to cut that because of costs IMO. That is 'extra'-- if their parents move there is always another school. I do know that hurts their education, but again where do you draw the line between doing the social work thing and our real goal of providing an education to all.

Debora:

One of the things that I think the board has made clear to Mo and his staff is that this transition has to be done as inexpensively as possible. To keep costs as near to a break even point as possible e are looking at things like putting district superintendents and their staffs in existing GCS buildings, possibly in schools. Also, it has been represented to me that there will be savings in personnel costs as we reduce a number of positions. (I know, we have heard this before. But I believe that the board, led by Jeff Belton and others, will insist on personnel reductions).

One of the problems with the "roll-out" however, is that we don't know what the costs are going to be until we get to the end. There is some tension between the board and the administration over this and other aspects of the Strategic Plan. I am hopeful that we will get these issues ironed out and either commit to the plan or abandon it. In my opinion, we need to have the board behind the Strategic Plan if it is going to be successful.

Putting the area supervisors in a school would save money, but I don't know of any schools that have 3 or 4 or more unused rooms. I am thinking that the supervisor, assistant, EC person, perhaps social worker at least. I think this because of the questions that was on the questionaire about what services the public would want out of the area office. I think many of the items asked were redundant as to what each school offers, things like magnet info, EC help, etc. I thought it was just to be a liason between principals and the downtown office, with a point of reference for parents. With the questions asked it seemed like a 'mini downtown' with all systems incorporated.

While I think it is admirable to stand behind the plan, it is the BOE's responsibility to oversee the use of our taxes and educate the children. I don't think any superintendant should have carte blanch

Debora,

I too agree that "Home Advantage" need to be discontinued. This program might have come into being before we had all the gas hikes.

I work at a Title I school tutoring Math. The needs at this type of school are varied and vast. I realized the first week that I was "not in Kansas" anymore. We have some students, smart and sweet as can be, who through no fault of there own cannot make it to school some days. They are from a single parent home and once the mother leaves for work, if they miss the bus, they have no transportation. The same goes, at times, if a child is sick. You go to call and the home phone or cell phone has been cut off. There are many different issues you have at a Title I school. We see many kids moving and coming in throughout the year. In fact, one of the students from S.C. is much further ahead in Math then some of our 5th grade students.

My point is even if GCS is providing transportation to the "previous school", the student may still miss the bus because of his or her particular circumstance at home.

I have even thought that it would be a great service if we had transportation to take sick children home if their parents had no transportation, but if the phones are cut off, how do you get in touch to make sure the parent is home? What would this cost us? and What about the liabilities of driving a child home?

When you work around these kids, you see the real needs out there. How to solve them is another issue? Are we educators or social workers? And at what cost? Should this come under the Schools or County Social Services budget?

Buses also need to stop running for after school tutorial and school imposed after-school make-up time.

With the cost of gas, it is ridiculous to see 1 -3 students get on several different after-school tutorial buses primarily because they were skipping class or too lazy to get up in the morning.

It