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My opinion is that we should focus less on building a bunch of stuff and pay people before we put so much money into infrastructure. E.g. where I work, they are going to expand a campus and it is an enormous waste. They could give the entire staff 20% raises for what the construction is going to cost. Also IT infrastructure costs a ton and I wonder if it's worth it. We pay absurd amounts for software licenses and such.
The distinction between capital budget and expense budget, especially in the public sector, has always struck me as sub-optimal.
This made me chuckle. One of the pieces of advice I've given people (mostly parents) -- since retiring -- who are trying to deal with a school system (as well as any other business or governmental agency (etc.), is put everything in writing. Don't need to make threats at all. Just put everything in writing. For example: "I wanted to summarize what went on at our meeting last Tuesday...". I am telling you folks, putting things in writing often gets balls rolling (so to speak). Having said that, there may be times when that could work against you (so you have to use good judgement), and you need to keep such 'records' concise and accurate (which some people can't do). But under the right circumstances, it works wonders.
In the private sector, the person who takes minutes is the person who determines what actually happened, what the actual action items are, and the actual next steps.
In the private sector, the person who takes minutes is the person who determines what actually happened, what the actual action items are, and the actual next steps.
That's what we did during team meetings (tech). Then that person would send out those notes in email to everyone so we were all on the same page with assignments and due dates.
Let's put it this way, I was in the ER about a month ago, and it took 20 minutes to get a nurse to take me to the toilet. Considering that we principals were required to administer epinephrine with no medical degree, I'd rather have a nurse than no nurse.
There is no need for a nurse - a Registered Nurse - to perform that assistance.
That's what we did during team meetings (tech). Then that person would send out those notes in email to everyone so we were all on the same page with assignments and due dates.
My point was slightly different - the person writing the notes could, and sometimes did, insert into the minutes action items that objectively never were discussed or assigned.
Can you estimate roughly how many of your hours were required to execute this? How many hours of various other entities - HR, legal, etc?
Interestingly, when they do actual comparisons of overhead in the private sector and the public sector, the private sector usually ends up having a lot more overhead. See what has changed with the privatization of things like Medicaid. Programs that had 1-5% overhead now have 15-20% overhead.
And even those mediocre people find something better.
Pay them more and maybe the stronger grads will choose that route. Pay the same as anyone can make bartending and get what you pay for.
We had an art teacher at our school who really boosted the program, a member of the local craftsman's guild, who took her students to sales where they could see the economic value of their art. She was also a long-time bartender in a series of upscale restaurants.
We had a principal who would harass her for missing afterschool faculty meetings. The teacher would ask her if she was getting paid to attend the meetings. Of course, she was not, and the teacher would answer that she was going to the job that paid her money to be there. The principal once replied that she needed to think about which job offered her the most benefits, thinking of course that it would be teaching.
During the summer, the teacher called me on her way into the Public Employees' Retirement office to check on her pension eligibility. Her bartending job had just offered her benefits to go full time. After learning that she could get another quarter of retirement if she worked the first six weeks of the school year, she put in her resignation, telling the principal, "I had to think about which job offered me the most benefits."
We lost a great art teacher, and the principal had to replace her in the middle of the year. I will always remember how she kept the upper hand.
Can you estimate roughly how many of your hours were required to execute this? How many hours of various other entities - HR, legal, etc?
I have no idea how much time (other than at our school) was spent on the 2 cases. As for work done at the school:
Assistant principal -- believe it or not, less than 7 hours (not counting the replacement procedure).
Teacher -- perhaps 15 hours.
However...these were extremely clear cut cases where only written documentation and very little research was needed.
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