Thursday, April 02, 2009

ESD189's staffing assessment is just more propaganda

What senseless gibberish is this? Nick Brossoit is asking for a third party evaluation of administrative staffing levels at the Edmonds School District. He called on ESD189 to provide this assessment based upon data found on the OSPI website. The assessment is absolutely meaningless and just more misinformation.

In the second paragraph, Jerry Jenkins claims that the process of actually answering the real and meaningful question is just too costly. Well, maintaining the District's administrative hierarchy is what is so costly. Hiding behind the illusion of financial responsibility creates the impression that Nick Brossoit cares about how public funds are being spent. I have news for you - he doesn't care. The proof is in his reluctance to make cuts in administration. Not in the number of staff, but in how they are compensated.

Nick Brossoit dare not truly assess the financial impact of all of his hand maidens, aka assistant superintendents, for fear that rational minds may demand their elimination. Try as he might to reduce the number of employees in the ESC, progress is rapidly unraveled when raises and promotions are doled out to his friends with unwarranted salaries and titles. Nick Brossoit will tell you that the Assistant Superintendents in his district are paid the same salaries as assistant superintendents in other districts, but how many do those districts have?

ESD189, like Nick Brossoit, is just playing with numbers. They offer a per student cost of administrative expenditures and total FTE per 1,000 students. There is no discussion related to the number of assistant superintendents each district has or how much is spent supporting each of them.

When people say the District is top heavy, they are not talking about the number of bodies, they are talking about the amount of money spent on assistant superintendents and the like.

The total amount spent for administrative support may be on par with comparable districts, but no effort has been exerted in illustrating a range of salaries. I would be willing to bet that the Edmonds School District has more staff per 1,000 students earning more than $100,000 than any other district in the state. If they are not right at the top, they'll be a close second.

Why is it so hard for a superintendent to understand the impact of poor choices? He and his board seem so enamored by creating and rewarding a small circle of "executives" and it comes at the expense of retaining qualified and competent staff. As more and more money is doled out to friends and allies, the net number of employees may shrink, but alas, the total volume of dollars spent actually stays the same or shifts upward.

It is no surprise that ESD189 thinks the District is understaffed. Fewer people are earning larger salaries while the real worker bees see no real change in their salaries. In a normal economy, such workers would resign and move to another district, but with our current financial turmoil and the charm of our region, few will actually leave.

21 comments:

Anonymous said...

the real question is where do WE as employees go. do the leaders of this school district really care about our pesky kids.

Anonymous said...

Of course the District leaders could are LESS about KIDS! Why would those at the top (pay levels) leave the District when they are paid/fed, by a Golden Spoon?

Anonymous said...

If the enrollment is declining....as it is...how did they justify adding an assistant superintendant three years ago in teaching and learning? That's the great decision making at work. Now we hear that the state budget will cause us to cut TWICE or MORE what was projected last on the budget cuts. Let's see what kind of decision making Nick makes now! I It just keeps getting better!

Anonymous said...

what about the head HR assisant superintendant. You know the person that came from OLY town, like the superintendant. I wonder if they have diner too.

Anonymous said...

First of all, Marla wouldn't let this out the door without knowing the results beforehand; secondly, there is so much wrong (propaganda as Mark says) with this analysis, where do we begin? Compare 08-09 budget with 07-08 actuals? Huh? It's well known in the budget/Marla's office that administration/overhead/whatever you want to call it is coded differently in Edmonds than other school districts. Nice try Nick, but you are only smart enough to fool the lemmings.

Anonymous said...

What's going on in the mailroom? AP ladies doing the mails sorting. Can I trust them to not read my mail? Don't think so. Our district is going down the tube and I realize so are other districts I just hope other districts are making better budget decisions.

Anonymous said...

How much are they paying that lady in the orange vest to sit outside the ESD HQ every morning to make sure college students don't park in the Marla's parking space? (If that's what's she's doing. If that's not what she's doing, well, what *is* she doing?)

can't make it in said...

Hey DJ,out of that 13 plus million dollar proposal that was submitted to the deaf dumb and blind last evening, how much of that would represent Management position cuts? Does any one out there know how much Dead Weight is walking around the district? Laid off Teachers, parents and taxpayers would be appalled at the number of clowns in the circus. Regular ole staff aren't the ones who need to be watched. Remember most of us earned our careers. A good work ethic is where it all began. The group that needs a Baby sitting service, would be the Coffee Kings and Queens that report to Howard Schultz Headquarters, Lynnwood branch, 3 or 4 times a day.

Anonymous said...

I need a new post DUDE!

Anonymous said...

Nice business model: We are One Hundred and Fifteen Thousand thin ones in the hole this year, so for 09-10 school year the cost of lunch will be as follows.
Student lunch $17.50 w/milk $20.75
staff lunch $23.00 no soup for you $18.50.

Anonymous said...

What's with the GUARD in orange vest outside ESD? Now I have heard it ALL! Need more info please. Perhaps the GUARD is Marla's personal Body Guard in disguise!

Anonymous said...

Why not outsource the meal program, with a company that only provides meal services to schools and companies. Look around the state and see how many districts provide food services vs. outsourcing. Money could be saved.

Anonymous said...

Is that coffee machine in food service working?

Anonymous said...

Food service needs help by the district employees to help Barb save her job. So please buy more sh*ty food, coffee and service.

Anonymous said...

Mark where are you??? We need you! I hope your on vacation and enjoying some sunshine somewhere. Their has not been much change to this blog site for awhile have you given up on us. Hope to hear from you soon~

Anonymous said...

Why pick on Food Service? They have many hard working employees just trying to keep their head above water. Many only work for the medical insurance and get nothing for take home. Yes their are things that need to change like get rid of the Field super. that would save the dept. I bet about 80-90 thousand. The department is top heavy once again, just like the Supt. Office, that I agree with but don't pick on the hard working employees that are just thankful to have a job right now.

Anonymous said...

It takes 4 people plus Manny to sort our mail now. Debbie Nosy, Julie Whisle, Julie Marten don't gossip and Alice Benner leader, all sort the mail. It is costing the district a lot more than when Carl was there and Carl was a lot more fun too.
Now departments will have to budget monies for US mail service or pay their employee to take that duty on. Who saves!

Anonymous said...

I'm wondering why Julie Martins position was and has not been cut. That position was only for 1 year and that passed along time ago. She loves keeping everyone in an uproar with all her gossip. Manny's position should also have been cut he has never been able to complete tasks and has been moved all over to push pencils what until he is eligible to retire? It keeps me wondering if he is sleeping with one of our Assist. Supt. I won't mention names on that one everyone already knows.

Anonymous said...

I've also wonder why Julie's position was not cut. I believe her work is also being done by others. Why have more than one position doing the same kind of work. BS dept. needs to look at this because it could save them some money.

Anonymous said...

Personal attacks are so lame. Julie Martin is one of the people I call whenever I need help. She's one of the few ESC staff who actually answers her phone. She calls right back if she does miss a call. If she doesn't know the answer to the question I'm asking, she helps me find the person who does. She's salt of the earth - a hard worker, a caring individual, and I've never heard even a hint of gossip out of her mouth. People need to get a life and focus on the real problems - Julie Martin isn't one of them. It really ticks me off when people use this forum to voice inane and infantile rants - the blog loses all credibility. Maybe the poster is an agent provocateur? If we lose good people like Julie, the ship is really going down.

Anonymous said...

It's interesting that the last poster knew which J Martin was being spoke about we have more than one in the district. Interesting!!!! the district will go down the tube despite the J Martins in this work place.