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This is a place for discussion regarding the Hall County School System and related issues. If you believe anything posted is incorrect or overly inflammatory please leave a comment and it will be addressed.
If you would like to leave a private comment place the code “Bahlag9″ without the quotation marks in the text box with your message and it will not be publicly published.
I love teaching. I enjoy my students. I seriously relish explaining my chosen subject. If you’ve ever seen a Key West sunset then you would know the pleasure of seeing a kid “get it”. Unfortunately, the focus on test scores limits the prospects of “sunset” moments. Those moments have become fewer and fewer in spite of my efforts to ignore the oppressive fog of the central office and the ivory tower types.
From my simple four-wall perspective “they” are only there because the classroom wasn’t “it” for them. There are no pay raises in the classroom (except for the yearly steps). The ladder to higher pay is through administration. It’s the administrators and the ever-increasing bureaucracy that squelches the creativity and innovation of the teacher – the real talent in any school system. But, then again, maybe they think they are doing the children a service by being where they are – they advance “for the children”.
Why do I continue to do what I do when I am consistently courted by the private sector? I could leave at any moment. It’s my sunset moments with my kids. I am good at what I do. Don’t tell anyone, but I do not care a rat’s @$$ about test scores. I care about my students, your kids, as if they were my own.
These recent blogs about the corruption and incompetence in the local school system ring true. There is something rotten in Denmark for sure. I cannot voice my objections publicly because of the repercussions. Rest assured, these blogs are being discussed at the lunch tables, probably in every school in the county. It is the hope of this teacher that the parents and community rise up and take back THEIR school system.
Maybe it won’t matter if I leave. Maybe it is arrogance on my part to think that I have and am making a real connection with my kids. Seriously, maybe it really doesn’t matter. The school can hire some kids out of college to take my place for half the pay. They’ll do what the master wants. They need their job. Hey, it’s just about test scores anyway. When those teachers figure it out, they’ll leave as well. The colleges are pumping ‘em out like PEZ dispensers, the county will hire more. The cycle will continue. Hey, it’s just about the image of the county, or the political and career agendas of the those in charge. It’s just about the test scores, right?
Maybe, it is time to leave. The clouds are blocking the sun.
Bloggers, thanks for your efforts.
Keep on bringing the real issues to light! Don’t let the efforts to derail the cause get to you. Ignoring bullies usually makes them go away. There are some real problems in Hall County Schools and you have support from parents, teachers and other folks in other counties that have gone through the same ordeal. Good Luck!
Wow! What these blogs have done for teacher morale. Just when folks were getting serious about leaving, or just getting seriously frustrated, these issues being discussed with the general public has almost given everyone a light at the end of the tunnel. It has been so sad watching kids go through educational fads. Teachers can’t do much but shut their door occasionally, but parents can. Maybe, just maybe Hall County can be comparable to the surrounding counties in resources for their schools and their children.
What about this gem?
http://www.gainesvilletimes.com/news/article/5272/
Virtual meetings could cut costs for substitute teachers, gas reimbursement
By Ashley Fielding
afielding@gainesvilletimes.com
POSTED April 29, 2008 12:13 a.m.
Hall County school officials are discussing ways to cut costs in the wake of rising fuel and electricity costs.
In the school board’s first approach to the fiscal year 2009 budget, Superintendent Will Schofield presented options for cutting costs in the long-term — costs that are projected to rise by nearly $1.3 million in the coming fiscal year, which starts July 1.
Schofield said the implementation of a new “virtual” meeting software called GoToMeeting could keep the system from having to pay substitute teachers to watch classes while full-time teachers attend meetings at the county office.
It also would negate the need to reimburse employees with gas money for driving to meetings.
By holding “virtual” meetings as much as possible, Schofield said the system could cut $40,000 from the proposed $74,708 budget for substitute teachers in fiscal year 2009.
School officials have also discussed transporting cheerleaders and athletes to sporting events on the same bus, as well as using the same bus for students who are going from different county schools to the same event. That would cut fuel costs, said Jewel Armour, executive director of operations for the school system.
Schofield also proposed that the school system continue contracting out janitorial services and move away from full-time custodial employees. He said salaries are about 90 percent of the system’s proposed $217 million budget and noted that one long-term custodian who is retiring this year will be replaced by a contracted janitorial service.
“(We’re) encouraging people to outsource everything they possibly can,” Schofield said.
Schofield also proposed contracting services for instructing hospitalized and homebound students.
“We spend tremendous amounts of money sending teachers to homes for hospital/homebound,” Schofield said.
However, outsourcing student transportation would not be as cost-effective as employing bus drivers, Armour said. Schofield added that the Hall County school system had the second most efficient student transportation system in the state.
The proposals came in the board’s first discussion of the fiscal year 2009 budget, and the board has not made any budget decisions for fiscal year 2009.
After presenting an overview of the budget, which is currently proposed to be $16.9 million more than the current fiscal year, Schofield advised board members to take a closer look at the 19 pages of dollar signs before reconvening next week.
“Go back and dissect it, and we’ll do the same,” Schofield said.
Wow. The sheer arrogance.
“It also would negate the need to reimburse employees with gas money for driving to meetings”
What about cronies who drive back and forth to work for 2 years and get paid travel for it???
That still going to be ok? Could have cut around $20,000 from reimbursable travel there.
Here’s a suggestion – cut the $10,000 in new principal moving expenses to save some money.
But no, lets go after the money spent legitimately serving homebound kids and providing teacher training.
Unreal. Just unreal.
Nice reporting job! Maybe someone should get Ashley to look into exactly who those custodial duties are being outsourced to. Anyone out there know?
And just who are we going to be outsourcing hospital homebound services to? Wonder which buddy is starting up that little service?
Exactly which employees get reimbursed for gas money to attend meetings? After that came out in the paper it was all the talk. A lot of folks have traveled all over the county attending meetings, not expecting any reimbursement. So what was the purpose of that statement? (It would be nice if central office administration could be so courteous to respect personal time and end the meetings at a decent hour!)I think the board could do a lot better with the budget if they looked at the numbers like a forensic auditor.
anyone seen this!?!?
is it being kept secret????????
http://public.doe.k12.ga.us/DWPreview.aspx?wid=149&obj=61699&fm=1&mode=1
Wow? What are they going to do when they are relying on Singapore to fix the math problems in sped? Regular ed Singapore classes didn’t do well on math CRCT this year.
Have many seen this report?
doubt many have. Did you notice the report looked at Singapore as the basis for the conclusions.?
Schofield has brought with him quite a few “yes men” out there in the community as well. The thing is that this flooding of positive comments alarm the community even more about the state of education in Hall County. It makes the administration seem like they are desperate to hide things. They need to just start over and try to build some trust- or leave for greener pastures. Our kids are getting caught in this grandstanding.
It would be nice to see some restitution for some of the deplorable things going on in this county.
Hall County polled employees to see if they would agree to paying $50 of extra insurance and have their pay increased by that same amount. They did this with a Quia survey. What if someone took the survey more than once- to skew the results to a predetermined outcome? Shouldn’t there be some measure to prevent cheating?
Hey Gainesville City folks- I bet Schofield could be lured over to your side to take the place of your embattled Superintendent.
I think the local board of education should be required to publish a line item budget, actual expenditures and revenue on their website. It just might keep their spending down when they know everyone is watching.
Could a lack of community support, poor school climates, teacher retention problems, and a serious lack of stakeholder involvement put our accreditation in jeopardy?
how about a survey?
Will there not be surveys with the SACS accreditation?
We don’t do SACS anymore.
The schools go through GAPSS, but the system has a SACS review this year.
I suggest people start contacting officials at SACS soon and frequently. If they have an idea where the problems are they are more likely to investigate closer. If not, the folks at 711 Green will manipulate them and control who and what the team gets exposed to. That is the problem with the district accreditation model – less exposure to the teachers and parents – control freaks like our current crop no doubt love it though so they can pick and choose. Controling that information flow is the key to their stating in power. That’s why they hate the bogging so much.
make that blogging
They hate the blogging, but
most teachers are not blogging- but they do talk….
Change has to be just around the corner. I’ve been here a long time and I have never seen it so bad. Young and old are up in arms with what is going on.
I think we all need to write Governor Perdue and insist that something be done to ensure that ALL school districts have a functional, trustworthy and professional school board that truly represents the people that put them in office. It is apparent that there are some serious checks and balances missing.
Congratulations to Chestatee High! Their SAT scores are higher than the national average. All from a little school that is not on the central office’s list of pets. Keep it up!
Well done indeed!
Will’s yes men (or man) is back on accessnorth.ga. Teachers- how many of your students’ parents have the opinion that our system leaders are doing a great job?
Learned something new today:
‘Improving retention would also cut costs. Each time a teacher leaves, a district spends between $15,000 and $20,000 recruiting and training a replacement.’
If that is true, Hall will be broke in about 2 years under our present leadership
Even after passing the LARGEST budget in Hall County history this year. Really tightening up the reins on spending I guess….
Hallconcern: I liked your comment on Gainesvilletimes.com. I love how they credit Singapore when the school that was recognized wasn’t doing Singapore. Balanced literacy wasn’t fully implemented in any school. When those programs get in full swing, the scores will plummet unless the teachers use COACH books and OAS everyday. (then test prep becomes a curriculum)
Why couldn’t Eloise praise the hardworking staff and students? What about the parents? This just goes to show the community what kind of leaders we have running our schools. Go to a PTO meeting sometime- You will see real parent attitudes towards our leaders.
I think some central office folks should start attending PTO meetings across this county to get a feel for the attitudes of parents towards our central office. It would be an eye opener. Our administration needs to make an effort to improve the climate and restore trust.
I’d like to see the board members get out and about to those meetings myself. It would be good for them to listen to people outside the little circles they seem to only represent. They need to do this without central office chaperones though.
Board members are a great idea. You know, when you are away from day to day school academics, you lose perspective. You start to rely on what you read and who you talk to who are reading the same things as you. Things seem fine, but you get a skewed perspective. When there is no honest dialogue with your ones in the trenches, the kids begin to suffer. Unfortunately we have some folks that are so career oriented that when they can speak their mind they don’t because they want to be the team player. We all need to work together for the kids. This climate of fear and intimidation needs to end. I think by folks from central office and the board members actually attending school functions they will get a feel for the attitudes of the parents and the community and they would be more willing to change.
Elementary teachers- ban together and teach EXACTLY how the central office wants everyone to teach. Stop sneaking in things that work and just teach the way they want you to. That is the only way they will realize that the methods they are pushing are not good for kids (and not very rigorous) . As long as you all keep putting in the other to keep scores up, they will never know. Teachers should be able to teach their kids, not teach to the latest recycled bandwagon.
I would like to see a paper survey of parents. It can be real simple- What they like about the county and what they feel needs improvement. Have someone else that isn’t involved compile the results and present it to the board.
i second the survey idea from parent input. would go a long way in many respects.
Wow. Someone has a seriously over exposed nerve there. Public and elected officials take heat. It’s kind of part of the job description. Funny stuff in a childish sort of way.
I don’t think they have any idea how bad things are. It is sad. Do you all think that everyone in the central office knows what is going on, or do you think some of them have had the wool pulled over their eyes?
All I know is that I’m going to crack if this keeps up much longer, and I know I’m not alone. Staffs at the schools are wound tight, and you know that can’t be good for the boys and girls.
Regarding the budget cuts in the paper today. This administration passed the largest budget in Hall County Schools history right in the face of all the economic indicators pointing towards this major downturn happening. Now the surplus will be severly depleted in large part due to what looks like poor planning. Wasn’t the reason for such a huge budget given as a huge increase in enrollment at one point? Good luck building that surplus back up any time soon. Sad. If only some of this could have been predicted…..
At least now it seems they are having to start streamlining some of those unnecassary positions. Too bad they had to be basically forced to do so instead of getting out ahead of it. If we have been so leanly staffed as has been claimed then how in the world can they be consolidating so many positions so quickly?
Glad to see the Johnson parents getting vocal and wanting some attention for their school like the northern pet gets.
Could have sworn the language of success was Chinese though…. Interesting.
Does anyone know what positions were streamlined? Were they central office positions, or ones that work with the children?
“School board talks technology during tour
Walk-through shows where money goes in Hall ”
This is a headline in today’s paper. Why didn’t they tour all the schools over several days to see the differences in available technology? Also, unless they walked through both buildings which house our central office folks- they didn’t see where money goes in Hall.
Is Schofield really behind all these things going on in the county or is he just the figure head? No matter how much positive PR they release, it won’t make a hill of beans to the public. Do they not realize how bad the public perception is of this administration? I can’t ever remember a time when as a teacher you mentioned central office or the leadership and the parents in the room start rolling their eyes and start chiming in their negative opinions. It also happens in the community. Something has to change. This is getting embarrassing, and the kids’ academic levels are really declining.
Interesting site. I have a question for one of the poster – DocB, you mentioned incompetent principals. Who are they? I’m sure there are a few around
. Isn’t this the area that really needs attention? I think more should be done in this area myself.
That nutty attack last night from whoever that person was really summed up the current atmosphere in this system. The whole thing was an obvious attempt to scare or threaten someone who that strange little person thinks has something to do with this blog. And they wonder why we as teachers are afraid to speak up about anything? With that kind of thing going on? I just pray it wasn’t someone actually in charge of anything in the system.
25: I think it was some folks with some kind of personal issues or conflict going on or something that decided to use this as a forum for some reason. Not something I want this site to be in the middle of.
Interesting. Wasn’t this our current Super’s first major push?
http://www.susanohanian.org/show_atrocities.php?id=4791
Keep up your good work!
Why can’t Hall County have detailed minutes of board minutes like Dawson County?