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One of the schools in Manhasset (as you know, one of the top school districts in the country) has some project kids in their system. My wife who grew up in Manhasset can tell you plenty of stories that the school itself doesn't make a difference. It's all about parenting. She told me that 9 out of 10 project kids ended like the majority of minority children in bad school district: no college, plenty of children earlier, living of the government.
It's not about schools. It's about responsible, loving and available parents.
I don't think we should have county-wide school districts, but only certain schools should merge in order to save property taxes instead merging them all cause some people might want a smaller district
Quote:
Originally Posted by WIHS2006
County school districts (and the idea of a county fire department) would be a total disaster .... look no further then the Suffolk and Nassau County police for a prime example.
I like the idea of school districts based on town council districts or based on the township level ex. Suffolk would have one school district for each of the ten towns and Nassau one for each of the three towns plus Glen Cove and Long Beach.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Walter Greenspan
Any effort to consolidate two, five, ten or all 56 school districts in Nassau County (the same would be true for Suffolk County) would result in significant higher costs as the teachers in the new consolidated school district would all be paid using the contract from the highest paying school district, unless each of the consolidating school districts was first dissolved, thereby cancelling all existing union contracts, before forming the new, larger school district. which then would negotiate a new union contract.
Throughout this thread the people who are advocating for school consolidation are assuming this will save us a lot of money on school taxes by cutting down administration. But school administration is only a small part of the school taxes, more of it goes to pay the salary, pensions and benefits of teachers, who greatly outnumber the administrators. No school consolidation is going to change that, in fact as WIHS and Walter Greenspan rightly point out, it might make it worse.
For example the consolidation of the Nassau and Suffolk County Police have given us some of the most expensive police in the country.
Throughout this thread the people who are advocating for school consolidation are assuming this will save us a lot of money on school taxes by cutting down administration. But school administration is only part of the school taxes, much of it goes to pay the salary, pensions and benefits of teachers, who greatly outnumber the administrators. No school consolidation is going to change that, in fact as WIHS and Walter Greenspan rightly point out, it might make it worse.
For example the consolidation of the Nassau and Suffolk County Police have given us some of the most expensive police in the country.
Good point BUT eliminating hundreds of highly paid and redundant administrators (superintendents, assistant superintendents [business, curriculum, personnel, etc], program and curriculum directors, etc. and their thousands of associated staff personnel would save tens of millions per year every year going forward. We are talking hundreds of millions in future salary/medial/pension increases for these same personnel.
I have not heard anyone claim there would be a decreased need for teachers, building principals, building assistant principals, school maintenance personnel, school buildings, school buses, etc following consolidation.
Good point BUT eliminating hundreds of highly paid and redundant administrators (superintendents, assistant superintendents [business, curriculum, personnel, etc], program and curriculum directors, etc. and their thousands of associated staff personnel would save tens of millions per year every year going forward. We are talking hundreds of millions in future salary/medial/pension increases for these same personnel.
I have not heard anyone claim there would be a decreased need for teachers, building principals, building assistant principals, school maintenance personnel, school buildings, school buses, etc following consolidation.
Doubt the claim of tens of millions saved each year. I live in Sewanhaka District. Has 5 high schools. Each one is chock full of administrstors and e a ch school al s o sends administr a tors to the central board. They will just invent new positions to keep their fellow people employed, andvthe boards filled with relatives of teachers and administrators will keep on improving it.
IMO the only thing th a t fixes it is state mandates on staffing levels between students/teachers and teachers/administrators.
Good point BUT eliminating hundreds of highly paid and redundant administrators (superintendents, assistant superintendents [business, curriculum, personnel, etc], program and curriculum directors, etc. and their thousands of associated staff personnel would save tens of millions per year every year going forward. We are talking hundreds of millions in future salary/medial/pension increases for these same personnel.
I have not heard anyone claim there would be a decreased need for teachers, building principals, building assistant principals, school maintenance personnel, school buildings, school buses, etc following consolidation.
While I have no doubt some office members are not pulling 40 active hours a week, as true in most professions. I highly doubt the consolidation of 120 school districts would result in needing THOUSANDS less.
120 school districts are a result of block busting and racial segregation. Don't expect it to change.
I have no solutions unfortunately. LI gave the farm away a while back, and couldn't attract or keep businesses. There's no pretty solution aside from a few very rich communities and a dwindling middle class.
Doubt the claim of tens of millions saved each year. I live in Sewanhaka District. Has 5 high schools. Each one is chock full of administrstors and e a ch school al s o sends administr a tors to the central board. They will just invent new positions to keep their fellow people employed, andvthe boards filled with relatives of teachers and administrators will keep on improving it.
IMO the only thing th a t fixes it is state mandates on staffing levels between students/teachers and teachers/administrators.
I am talking Island-wide. 126 superintendents at 200k each is 25,200,000.00. 252 assist superintendents (business and curric/personnel) at 170k is 42,840,000. That is 68 million. Totally ballparking as some districts have just one supt and two assistants while others have many many more. I figure each one has a staff. Take the business supt. office alone in each district - my district has 10 folks including an assist supt and a CPA - they perform the same precise payroll/taxation functions as the 125 other districts. And the assist supt/personnel - curriculum office is similarly staffed and performs the same precise HR and curriculum functions as 125 other districts. We are talking about some real savings that repeat year in and year out (not to mention raises, etc). Long gone are the days of lean central office staffing.
Obviously an organizational structure would need to be built and staffed - so nobody is pretending eliminating 126 central offices is pure savings.
And it is also true as other commenters have pointed out that consolidation means little if any savings on teacher numbers , school administrator numbers , other school staff numbers, building maintenance, utilities, busing, etc....but there is a possiblity of substantial central office savings.
And it is also true there are many other arguments for and against consolidation.
we don't! look at richmond virginia. 1 district. equivalent in size and student population. highly rated with much lower taxes
Well, I would have said Chesterfield and Henrico two suburbs right outside of the City (more like L.I.) And I think that's what the poster meant.
Quote:
Originally Posted by OneToGo
When was the last time you've been to Richmond? Look at the demographics. Hardly Long Island. Marse Robert must be crying.
I was there yesterday and know the demo well.. 50/40 split. Yes complete opposite of the segregated L.I. Yes Robert would probably be upset but it's hard to keep 165 years of progression from happening The only place it stays the same is the Northeast and particularly L.I.
Don't be afraid of people that don't look exactly like yourself It's a very nice and underrated city, trust me I'm there more then you!
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The only place it stays the same is the Northeast and particularly L.I. 
It's a very nice and underrated city, trust me I'm there more then you!
