has made a dent in replacing several administrators who have left the district in the past few months.
The School Board unanimously approved the hiring of six administrators at a special meeting Monday night, including a new director of business services and a principal for Plank Junior High.
Sharon Hassberger takes over the business services position , who left the district for Plainfield Consolidated Unit School District 202. Hassberger comes to District 308 from Big Hollow School District in Ingleside, where she served as business manager.
Jamie Max will take over the principal position at in the new school year. Max worked from 2005-08 at The Rose Academies in Tucson, AZ as assistant principal and principal. Plank's, is now principal at James Howard Monroe Middle School in Wheaton.
At , the school board approved the hiring of two assistant principals, both of whom were already working in the district. Melissa Hinshaw had been a fourth-grade teacher at Long Beach Elementary and Aaron Haber had been a science teacher and wrestling coach at .
Leslie Weber will take over as an assistant principal at Wolf’s Crossing Elementary School. Weber most recently was a fifth-grade teacher at Lincoln Elementary School in Plainfield.
Finally, Danial Durbin has been hired as the dean of students at OEHS. Durbin has been teaching physical education at Thompson Junior High since 2006 and received his master’s degree in educational leadership in 2009.
Read more about top administrators who left District 308 this year.
I completely agree that the board of education is responsible for its own actions. It does not operate in a vacuum, and the environment that exists is a direct result of their actions. Whether it is good or bad is not up for me to say, because I do not get to vote for them. It is up to the residents of D308. And the majority of residents of D308 WANT this, for whatever reason. Maybe they don't know they want it, or maybe they don't know that what they want has unintended consequences(like many decisions), regardless, these are the people that have been voted in by the majority of your fellow neighbors. So while the board shoulders the responsibility of their decisions, the majority of the residents shoulder the responsibility of putting them there in the first place. If you live in D308, the majority of your neighbors voted for this situation. You can't change their minds to make your life better, you can only make the choices for yourself that land you in an area of like minded understanding, when it comes to the meta-issues involved. For some, that meant moving out of Kendall county all together, to a more sustainable area. That does not refer to just financial, but also to societal. Not everywhere is like Kendall County, better places for you do exist, and they aren't all that far away.
You got a 9.4% raise, not based on merit, and didn't have a problem with it. All while your neighbors were wondering why their school taxes were going up faster than any other governing body. What will more than likely happen in the next few years though, is that the board will cut that contribution in half instead of removing it all. There may even be a phase-out, matched up with the phase-in of the tax shift from the state to the districts. If you think teachers are some sort of mystical profession, that is your illusion. Like I said, teachers are not superhuman beings, they are just regular people. In a large organization, including teaching, the majority of employees will do just enough to get the job done and no more, which is just fine since that IS their job. They are not magical. Sure, there are a few good ones that go above and beyond, I never denied that, but to lump them all together as if they are 'all good' is no more sensible than lumping them all together as 'all bad'. Both are extremes, and both are incorrect illusions. And yes, I did make a direct comment on the board. I told you that this is what a majority of your neighbors voted for. They are doing EXACTLY what they were elected to do. Your board is responsible for their actions, and your neighbors are responsible for putting them there.
http://abclocal.go.com/wls/story?section=news/iteam&id=8647489 "A memo from Rockford's school superintendent states: Rockford teachers "currently pay nothing toward their pension. District 205 currently pays the full pension contribution each year, which is 9.4 percent of each teacher's annual salary...and the district is proposing that teachers pay less than one percent toward their pensions." -That was in May of this year In other words, the district realizes this was a poor choice to be made, and is proposing to remove at least a portion of it. That school board, ran under the message of 'fiscal responsibility' and laid down the gauntlet for the union to respond to. http://www.rrstar.com/news/x1000618688/Rockford-School-District-intends-to-lower-tax-rate-by-58-cents The board has voted to LOWER the tax rate, lowering the money coming in. Now, when the next labor contract is up, the teachers will have a choice put to them; 1)Face widespread layoffs to plug the fiscal shortfall, increasing class sizes. 2)Change how much the teachers pay of their own money into TRS and avoid layoffs. -That was a few weeks ago Now, tell me with a straight face which ones were just spouting off the typical 'I do it for the kids', and which ones really believe it. Make no mistake, where they come down on that choice will either verify their rhetoric, or lay it bare as a farce. The reduction in funding part is already done. It happened, it's fact.
In year 1, yes. less than 1%. Tell me, did the cigarette tax increase to $2/pack in one year? Did the tax on liquor increase to its current level in 1 year? As I said, it will more than likely 'phased-in' The ball has started rolling in Rockford, and will continue on to the majority of the 64% of school districts that pay not only the employers share of the pension as they are obligated, but also pay the employees share(as a 'perk'). Meanwhile, residents in Kendall County are organizing a 'property tax revolt' and wanting a 20% cut in EVERYTHING to slow down the money grab that is primarily in the school district, and that increase is primarily coming from salary and pension increases that are now out of sync with reality. There are residents who actually want to cut the funding for roads, while bridges in the county are falling into rivers, just to stop the increases. Some of the smarter of this bunch has noticed that while some of their taxing bodies actually reduced their taxes year over year, the school district cancelled out all of them with the massive increases, and left them with an overall larger tax bill. I understand you like your job, I really do. It is not personal that there is not an infinite supply of money to continue the status quo that seems to be expected within the teachers union. Just like you are not out to raise my taxes on me individually.
I'm really looking forward to seeing how well his skills match up for Plank.
If the teachers had a 410K would everyone be up-in-arms? Start making the 2% pay their fair share. Bring the jobs back home and tax the outsources instead of giving them a free ride. Why not ask Romney to show us his tax returns from the last 10 yrs and I'd bet we could find enough money he never paid taxes on to cover the pensions and then some. I'm sick and tired of the freeloading 2% who aren't contributing their fair share. Straight tax across the board for everyone! Teachers deserve their salaries! I know they'll have their hands full or should I say classes when it comes time to open those additions. When the tax payers say no more money they'll be sitting empty and we'll be in the same boat with over-crowded classrooms.
Merit means more than just performance. As in; Since you will be working an extra 3 hours a day, that situation merits an increase in your salary. You are a teacher, you should know these things by now. I don't think I can say this enough times. This is not personal. I do not think you do a bad job at all. BUT, we are talking about funding, not your performance. And every time this discussion comes up, those who are teachers try to steer the conversation in the direction of 'how hard the job is', or 'I bet you couldn't do it'. Which has absolutely nothing to do with the problem. The money is not there for all the promises the board made to you. If you REALLY do what is best for the kids, you would be more focused on the effects on the district as a whole when it comes to class sizes, than worried about your individual take-home pay. This, is why I say it is a good window into being able to tell who is just using this line about 'caring for the kids' as lip service, and those who actually live it. We know where you stand, you are focused on your pay.
So essentially you are a proponent of paying all teachers the same if they work the same hours? Since they all have the same length of the school day. Unless you are a proponent of merit pay...but once again you never provided any evidence that merit pay works. I have not once said to you anything about how hard the job is or I bet you couldn't. I am too busy refuting your half truths and all of the spin. The board hasn't made any promises since we are still negotiating for next years contract. Yet we are already paid too much...even though I have no clue what I will make next year. Throughout this conversation I have never said anything about wanting more money. Yet to you I am only focused on my pay and I supposedly don't really care about kids. I thought you stick to facts? You are drawing conclusions from things I have never said. I am simply defending teachers against the constant misinformation you continue to spout. What do you feel I should be paid?
There is no doubt that this wording exists in your contract. It has been posted here many times, but once more for those who haven't seen it yet; http://76.227.214.198/assets/5/employment/contract_teacher.pdf (the wording is on pg32-item 3, and the table is on pg 51) It is not a 'supposed' raise, it is very real. It is explicitly labelled above as to what page and section is exists in. If you are honestly curious about what year it happened, I'm sure your union would be more than happy to give you access to the documents. Unfortunately, they haven't been very cooperative when asked by non-union members to release the historical contract information, only the current ones. Your union lobbied springfield to pay the money into the education fund, instead of paying into the pension fund, and now they have you convinced that the problems you are facing are someone else's fault. http://mchenrycountyblog.com/category/illinois-education-association/ Again, this has nothing to do with your performance. It has to do with financial matters. Please, make sure to let the public know what year this was enacted when your union gives you the information you requested of them.
Reality: Tim apparently knows the future. He states his opinion of what will happen in the future as some sort of fact. His big example of teachers paying for their own pension is Rockford who pays less than 1% of the contribution (which I have already stated is only significant if you look at the total compensation). Of course until questioned Tim left out that Rockford’s groundbreaking shifting of pensions to the employees was less than 1%, presumably so readers could assume Rockford shifted all 9.4% to employees. Tim statement (about BOE): “Whether it is good or bad is not up for me to say, because I do not get to vote for them. It is up to the residents of D308…Not everywhere is like Kendall County, better places for you do exist, and they aren't all that far away.” Reality: Tim doesn’t live in D308. He apparently doesn’t think it is a very good place to live. But he spends his spare time on the Patch complaining that teachers are overpaid. Tim seems passive to comment on any actions of the board because he did not get to vote for them. But he has no problem coming on the Patch and speaking out against the teacher pay of D308 (but doesn't pay taxes to 308). Apparently he knows where is best for me to live.
Reality: Tim speaks of a 9.4% raise that I supposedly received. Last year the raise in base salaries for most teachers in D308 was 2%. Tim speaks as though the BOE just decided to pick up the tab for teacher pensions with no corresponding reduction in base salary to counteract this. Tim asks me to ask my union when this happened because cannot prove it actually happened. Also, when asked about beliefs on merit pay and to show proof that it works Tim does not respond. Perhaps he is not aware of what “merit pay” in education refers to and the push towards it. Yet that does not stop him from speaking to me in a condescending tone as if I don’t understand the term ‘merit’. “You are a teacher, you should know these things by now.” Tim statement: “The ball has started rolling in Rockford, and will continue on to the majority of the 64% of school districts…” Reality: Once again nothing but Tim’s opinion stated as if he can see into the future and knows what will happen.
Reality: I am not sure who claimed teachers were ‘gods walking the earth’ but it certainly wasn’t me. In other portions of his statements Tim states that teaching is not a “mystical profession” which I also never said. In fact I have never heard anyone say that. What I do think is that teaching is a profession that should be respected. Is that wrong? Tim says the majority of teachers are not good. Again, another opinion of Tim’s stated as if it is fact. It is hard for me to believe it is not personal when he states most teachers are not good. If it was strictly a financial matter than Tim would not have brought that statement into the conversation. It seems he is attempting to belittle the job of teaching (by saying they are mostly not good) in order to somehow make it support his point that teachers compensation should be lowered.
Whether or not you respect things based on dogma or reality is your own decision to be made, but it has absolutely nothing to do with funding and the financial circumstances involved in calculating pensions. To draw a parallel for you, if you think your house is the most beautiful one in the world, will the bank care about your aesthetic opinion if you don't pay your mortgage? I have NEVER said that their compensation should be lowered. What I have said, quite clearly and numerous times, is that they should be paying for their own pension. I'm perfectly happy with them getting EXACTLY the same pay they do now, as long as they pay for their pensions out of their own salary as defined in the salary schedule. Have you bothered to work out the financial consequences over time of what happens when a pension is based on a larger total salary than what is contributed? Did you notice your 'salary' comes with a multiplier that is used to calculate your final pension payout at retirement? While you make like very much that this is currently paid for you, the effects of compound interest assures that this will become a larger and larger problem until it is resolved. Eventually, you are going to run out of people to blame.
So as I have said numerous times in this thread pension payment is part of total COMPENSATION to the teacher. If you truly do not want compensation to be lowered, but you want teachers to pick up the tab for retirement payments (9.4%), then you are saying you want a 9.4% raise in base salary in order to keep compensation the same. So in essence you want me to send the check instead of the BOE while making no difference to the taxpayers. While you claim you never said compensation should be lowered, I have also never made a comment if I think teachers should have compensation raised, lowered, or stay the same. However that has not stopped you from drawing conclusions on what my beliefs must be and from that conclusion you claim that I am focused on my pay. You say this as if I am not concerned with class sizes or about the kids. In fact, in your world, you already have me pegged as not caring about kids because I care somewhat about my salary. Tim statement: "If you REALLY do what is best for the kids, you would be more focused on the effects on the district as a whole when it comes to class sizes...We know where you stand, you are focused on your pay." Once again you draw conclusions about me from things that I have not even said. As if I don't care about class sizes or about kids.
http://preaprez.wordpress.com/2012/07/26/the-in-box-dont-make-the-mistake-of-thinking-that-pension-funds-were-diverted-because-springfield-politicians-wanted-to-do-something-the-majority-of-illinois-residents-needed-and-elected-t/