NEISD budget cuts/layoffs/schedule changes (merged threads) (San Antonio, Bowie: rental, school district)

[smuboy86]

The new stadium has also been built and was in use last season. It's cost was also a bargain.

[pr57001]

Originally Posted by imaterry78259

Reduce Super salary to $70K each and sell the land that the school just purchase for the new football stadium to keep the teachers employed. Education is about teacher/students not some overrated fat cat at the school board making bad decisions.

It would be better to spend $70K MORE on a super that can ensure the district's budget wasn't modeled on the premise of never-ending growth in the tax roles.

Cutting his salary to $0 would have no noticeable impact on the fiscal situation of the district, and the total cost to employ a teacher is far higher than his/her salary alone.

[secgal1]

I agree with not expanding with new stadiums. This is a luxury. Teachers a necessity.
Almost everyone but me is a teacher in my family. I do get tired of the talk about "low pay" particularly when i see 1) how early they get off work 2) how many holidays they get and 3) the months off in the summer 4) the mismanagement of tax payer dollars and waste. Yes they have to do some work at home but this is not unheard of in other professions that get paid salary either. Don't get me wrong...teaching (often) disrespectful urchins with limited parental or even administrative leadership support is no cake walk. However, is anyone unaware that teaching is not a profession to get rich in? That you may be working with bad kids and good ones? Or, hey you have a college degree and could choose to move to a more lucrative (and less stressful perhaps) line of work if you chose.

Regarding the superintendent salary...it should be watched and be commiserate with other ISDs but having them be paid too low is not appropriate either. They shoulder responsibilities (and are often called on the carpet for them) and make decisions at levels that impact many. They are typically paid higher as a result. Similar to C-level executives. If they are ineffective or corrupt, remove them. If not then pay them fairly. Fairly does NOT mean the same as a teacher though.

[zhugeliang1]

Or, hey you have a college degree and could choose to move to a more lucrative (and less stressful perhaps) line of work if you chose.

In this economy not everyone with a college degree is able to choose to move to a more lucrative and less stressful line of work. A recession does not offer many choices to those out of work and those in a job that was not originally desired.

[Bo]

Originally Posted by secgal1

I agree with not expanding with new stadiums. This is a luxury. Teachers a necessity.

I disagree somewhat with the logic here, since the district is not at a crossroads where athletics needed to be cut. Sports and extracurriculars are part of the tools a community has to keep kids out of trouble and away from less desirable activities like drugs and graffiti. The sports taking place in those facilities are giving literally thousands of NEISD kids opportunities to participate in school-sponsored extracurricular activities each year.

The residents of the North East ISD made the choice to invest in sports at the polls a few years back when the economy was better. The funds in those bond issues were designated for athletic facilities in the ballot issue, so it's not like the district could just make the choice to pull a few million out of the stadium fund and hire more teachers.

[zhugeliang1]

But are stadiums made accessible to students who want to partake in physical fitness activities but don't qualify to be on a sports team (like because of physical limitations or lack of athletic ability)? Seems to be a case of unequal access for NEISD students if that's the case.

[Bo]

Originally Posted by zhugeliang1

But are stadiums made accessible to students who want to partake in physical fitness activities but don't qualify to be on a sports team (like because of physical limitations or lack of athletic ability)? Seems to be a case of unequal access for NEISD students if that's the case.

I was including the hundreds of participants on dance teams and band in my count. At my kid's school the marching band, football team, cheerleaders and various dance teams easily number 800+ kids... 1/3 or more of the school. Consider that that also represents dozens of hours of practice time for each kid.

[zhugeliang1]

Yes, but you have to try out and be accepted into a dance team, a band, cheerleader squad, athletic teams...so that is not an inclusive purpose of a stadium. A stadium has to include all those within NEISD for the cost to be worthwhile, otherwise it become an exclusive club for which we are all funding.

[SA78228]

Looks like NEISD alone has about a half dozen assistant athletic directors!

http://teacher.neisd.net/sports_new/documents/BACstaffassignmentsnumbers.pdf (broken link)

what a joke.....maybe parents who want their kids to participate in sports should be charged a few grand.

[Bo]

Originally Posted by SA78228

Looks like NEISD alone has about a half dozen assistant athletic directors!

http://teacher.neisd.net/sports_new/documents/BACstaffassignmentsnumbers.pdf (broken link)

what a joke.....maybe parents who want their kids to participate in sports should be charged a few grand.

Athletics generates thousands of dollars of its own revenue. I don't know of any schools in the city having success charging for math competitions, so maybe we should cancel those.

My larger point is that athletics are too convenient of a whipping boy. There are schools near my hometown in another state using pay-to-play because taxpayers refuse to approve/renew any school taxes that appear on the ballot. The schools struggle to field a football team because parents have trouble affording the fee. They struggle to field a band for the same reason. There are more problems with drugs, gangs, graffiti, teen pregnancy, etc. in those districts than there are here. I've seen what pay-to-play does to a school community. I don't want it here and I hope that I never live in a community that does pay-to-play.