- Making a habit of voting for important (non-emergency) issues at special meetings. This lacks transparency when people are not aware of the meeting until the last minute and also, are not televised as regular ones. (I will say that I wish this was my biggest complaint.)
- Turning a part-time administrative position into a full time one in times of declining enrollment and employee layoffs. This expansion of administration could come with a cost. In recent years we have been sending more and more special education students to St Clair County RESA. If we continue to send more students in our special education program to St Clair County RESA what is the purpose of a full-time director of special education?
- With many teacher layoffs happening over the last few years we had the opportunity to consolidate this position, but did not take advantage. (Some internal candidates did not even get an opportunity to apply, because they were unaware that the position was posted.)
I understand that this is Dr. Skalka's decision as the new, incoming Superintendent, but on the other hand creating another full-time position out of thin air, without budgeting for one, is not.
Under our last superintendent our school board gave away power of the board like candy. This resulted in a six figure severance, as well as the moving of a school program without board or public input, until after the fact.
It is my belief that we should not micromanage, but at the same time, we should not be left in the dark in regards to things happening. The board did not see any of the applicants or their credentials-yet we are voting on approving someone that was chosen out of a field of candidates we did not see. This reminds me of voting on the teacher's contract without even reading first.
The most important point is that a position should not be created, without the support of the board first. To me this shows the overwhelming authority that was given to our last superintendent. We should not put all of our authority in one person, unless we just disband the board all together and give all of the authority over to our incoming superintendent (which for those of you in support of this it is not legal or practical to do such a thing-yes there are people that would actually support this!)
I realize that during our second and final budget workshop most on the board were supportive of this expansion, but I hope after a lot of thought they will change their minds.
Under our last superintendent our school board gave away power of the board like candy. This resulted in a six figure severance, as well as the moving of a school program without board or public input, until after the fact.
It is my belief that we should not micromanage, but at the same time, we should not be left in the dark in regards to things happening. The board did not see any of the applicants or their credentials-yet we are voting on approving someone that was chosen out of a field of candidates we did not see. This reminds me of voting on the teacher's contract without even reading first.
The most important point is that a position should not be created, without the support of the board first. To me this shows the overwhelming authority that was given to our last superintendent. We should not put all of our authority in one person, unless we just disband the board all together and give all of the authority over to our incoming superintendent (which for those of you in support of this it is not legal or practical to do such a thing-yes there are people that would actually support this!)
I realize that during our second and final budget workshop most on the board were supportive of this expansion, but I hope after a lot of thought they will change their minds.
The posting was emailed to everyone in the district via listserv, so the internal person telling you that they didn't know isn't checking their email. I would have expected you to verify this before stating it as fact. Also, there are specific legal requirements for eligibility in this position, very few have the requirements.
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