Wednesday, March 9, 2011

People are starting to pay more attention to what is "behind the curtain" in our public schools

I caught a few minutes of a school board budget meeting in the school district next to mine.  Residents were complaining about what they considered outrageous compensation packages given to school administrators. Some speakers expressed surprise about the way that school employees are able to carry forward so many personal/sick days and bump up their compensation during their last year of employment. Of course, the incentive to do just that lies in the fact that lifetime pensions are based on the last year or so of pay.

A couple of speakers compared their situation to that of Dorothy in The Wizard of Oz, as they were only now learning what was "behind the curtain".


The quote from the movie is, "Pay no attention to that man behind the curtain." Well, people are certainly starting to pay attention now.

(Cross-posted at Kitchen Table Math)

2 comments:

  1. I attended a forum on union negotiations in Blind Brook, where the facilitator at my table was a former BOE member.

    She told us that if you look at salary schedules for the last 3 years of employees' careers prior to retirement, they are given all the highest-paying stipended work.

    It's systematic.

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  2. I think I've seen some of that in our local schools . . .

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