The Green Lake School Board is hosting an important public meeting on Wednesday, May 13, at 6:30 PM to discuss options for a possible tax referendum.
PLEASE NOTE THE NEW TIME OF 6:30 INSTEAD OF 4:30.
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Thursday, May 7, 2009
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- Chief Highknocker
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252 comments:
«Oldest ‹Older 201 – 252 of 252"You didn't really say anything worth reading anyway."
But you read it and took the time to post an insult? That's dumb and nasty. Get medicated, blog-dog.
No, I read it and wanted you to know that all your ramblings were ineffective use of words. Now that you have "cut and paste" down, why not try something new like forming an intelligent opinion. I didn't mean what I said as an insult, just a fact.
Yes, please.
Do go to Hell in a handbasket, lickspittle.
06- 04-09 writes, "Why is it not written into the contracts of anyone who works at the school that inappropriate, unprofessional behavior will result in termination WITHOUT PAY? This is just ridiculous. I sincerely hope that in the future, the school board will word these contracts so that if someone is justifiably fired because of their own actions, then no financial compensation will be coming to them. Of course, this would make perfect common sense, so perhaps it will never happen at our school."
For the school board to be able to write this in as a contract condition, I would think they would first all have to all be able to hold that standard to themselves as a model. That would be a problem for Dennis Deyo to insist of others to not engage in inappropriate, unprofessional behavior. He'd have to sit that vote out.
"And speaking of contracts, I have heard it through the GLapevine that there might be lawsuits brought against the school on behalf of little e john tracy and his wild antics in the classrooms. There is talk of buying out his contract and letting him go to the tune of $75,000 or so. While I sure would like to see his departure from our school system, the idea of paying him off for his inappropriate, unprofessional behavior REALLY irks me."
This is an outright lie, and the person that posted it knows it! This site is really sad.
"No, I read it and wanted you to know that all your ramblings were ineffective use of words. Now that you have "cut and paste" down, why not try something new like forming an intelligent opinion. I didn't mean what I said as an insult, just a fact."
You shared your unwelcome, unintelligent opinion using insult to attack others, you did not state fact, chicken little, er, lickspittle, uh, chickenspit. Whatever.
206 comments full of anger, hate, judgmentalism, frustration, ignorance, simple stupidity, misinformation, so on and so forth. All in response to a simple statement about a meeting time being change. It is simply unbelievable!
I wonder how it would have been if it had been 206 comments of support, encouragement and willingness to help one another and those folks trying to educate our kids. I guess we’ll never know.
Think about the one thing all three poisons at GL have in common. One even had a bumper sticker on the car that made it sound like something great! Says something about their problems dealing with people. Figure it out?
oooohh, a mystery to solve! Coinciding with the end of the school year, we have so little time to find out what this means. Perhaps this will be a summer cliff-hanger. How intriguing!
Oh yummy! I adore cliff hangers!
The moral police in this blog have me dodging through the parking lot reading the faded bumper stickers.
Do we get a prize? Should I email Dick Cheney and tell him, too? Can we invite guests to the public flogging?
Oooooooo.
I am confused. Please just tell me what the bumper sticker says. I cannot wait any longer to find out the truth of the "3 poisons".
Is it the bumper sticker that says: My kid beat up your honor student? Wouldn't that be ironic!
How peculiar that the nasty comments (directed at anyone questioning the school adminstrators or expressing anger at local politicians) go without chastise. But anyone defending themselves against the transparent name calling are accused of the being out of control, troublemakers. No wonder kids are self centered and have no sense of right and wrong...they learn from the examples parents and society sets for them. Kids think winning at all costs is the goal because that is the behavior we allow in the spiffy leadership and political realm.
I disagree. Anyone who disagrees with the school administration and their bizarre three-ring circus is chastised for being honest enough to call them on it. Thank God that people are finally paying attention and willing to stand up for our children's education and our hard-earned tax dollars. Keep up the great work, bloggers! I can take all the chastising because truth speaks for itself.
Kids are self-centered because their parents treat them like mini-gods and don't discipline them. Goes right along with the International Baccalaureate teachings. The sooner we get that program out of the school, the better.
No argument from me to the above post! :)
I second that post. Get the stupid IB out of GL and get back to 'teaching' and utilize the AP programs offered through Moraine Park and other institutions.
Speaking of the IB and Charter School BS...
I've heard that the school is retaining Deb Kneser at a reduced level (100 days for $50,000 plus...$500+ per day!!!) to basically stay on as the curriculum coordinator so that they don't have to get someone unfamiliar with what is being installed for the upcoming school years. How ludicrous is that! She was making $80,000 plus per year as a full time district employee. How the heck can they justify paying her over $500 PER DAY!!!
I guess some people aren't really suffering in this 'down economy' since Deb has certainly nailed down some primo paying full, and now, part time jobs. Not sure what she'll be making from her CESA position but her part-time job is damn nice!
Funny thing is...the district doesn't need a stand alone curriculum coordinator. The position can be filled by someone on a part-time basis as long as they are qualified (and believe me, it doesn't take that much to be considered qualified)...
More wasteful, fiscal irresponsibility on the part of GLSD and the school board.
"I wonder how it would have been if it had been 206 comments of support, encouragement and willingness to help one another and those folks trying to educate our kids. I guess we’ll never know."
I beg your pardon. 206 plus comments...most of which are angry over what is hurting our kids' education and must be stopped. stopped. I think more encouragement of those fighting the wrongs is what is in order here
When you are in debt? Do you just pretend the debt isn't there while you curb future spending habits? No...you must also fix what is wrong or the wrongs will not stop.
To whomever it is that has just now learned how to use the 'cut & paste' feature...please stop. This is not scrap-booking. It is annoying. Thanks in advance.
I find cut/paste helpful in knowing what posts were responding to what posts. I find the one hit wonders with no direction to be annoying.
This week's Ripon Commonwealth, as usual, gives a much more inclusive report of what happened at the School Board meeting. Four board members voted against spending the money to retain Kneser. However Bates told of hiring that would be necessary "to replace her" for IB and Charter Schools - and "grant money" will pay. We need an accounting of this "grant money" that seems to be paying for everything the administration wants.
FYI - Thanks to The Commonwealth which includes ALL information on the School Board meetings, not just what the Administration wants us to know.
I love how Bates always refers to the 'grant money' paying for things. A few months back in his weekly GL Distorter article he praised Deb Kneser for all of the grant money coming into the school due to her efforts. My understanding is the grants would have come to the school regardless of Deb's involvement. It's always interesting how words can be effortlessly crafted to suit the needs of a snake-oil salesman. Smooth, silky statements that lull people into a false sense of security...before the dung hits the fan and everybody is scrambling to recover from the mess.
Our community has been torn apart by the mismanagement of our school district...and sadly we've let it happen. You can point fingers at Bates, and Burns, and Schultz, and little e., but the reality is that we have stood by and let it happen.
Well, we've gotten some new blood on the board and hopefully they will represent the majority of what the community wants/needs to make the school work...Hopefully it is not too late.
Speaking of the school being in debt, I would like to know how the school could afford to rent a variety of huge inflatable jumpy ball tents and such last week for the end of the school year extravaganza? The school yard was full of them. Were these paid for by the school or funds raised by the PTA? Either way, it seems wasteful to me.
When I was in school, we celebrated the end of the year with a picnic and a ballgame. It was wonderful. To indulge the children with such expensive forms of entertainment is yet another example of why kids are spoiled and self-centered.
Grants don't last long. Laws governing Charter Schools are being abused to help create the newest educational fashion our school administrators are indoctrinating our children and taxpayers into. Putting perfume on a pig will not hide the stink. Changing laws without ridding the system of the crooks is a waste of time.
Am I understanding this correctly? The IB program and the Charter school are the main reasons we employ a curriculum coordinator. The "rest of the school" is relatively fuss-free. So not only are we paying extra for these programs but we are paying over $500 per day for a curriculum coordinator to run things? What in the hell do the administrator AND principal do all day long??? I would really like to know.
Let's get back to basics!
In regards to the end-of-school picnic-
the picnic is funded by and run by the PTA- no help from the school whatsoever!
the PTA does a whole lot more during the year than the general public realizes~
I am glad to hear that. However, I think the PTA could be more frugal in these historically bad economic times and do something more fruitful and meaningful with their money. Still and all, thankful for your hard work and caring.
IB and Charters are not the main reason curriculum directors are employed. District wide curriculum and instructional development is why, optimally, a curriculum director is necessary. However, in the case of no money in a school budget, a stand alone, curriculum director is not necessary in GL's district or surrounding districts.
Charter schools are called Charter because they receive monies/charters from the Department of Instruction. These charters last only 3 years during innovation and implementation, and then either taxpayers are expected to continue funding Charter Schools (better befitting of school within schools although not required to follow same rules), or the whole Charter/SWS is eventually forced to disintegrate because of lacking finances (but not before it drains the district's budget). And, of course then, it is the kids' education that utlimately pays the price.
Charter Schools were once based on good faith intentions, with ideas that challenged one-sided, conventional teaching methods. But, like everything else, the controllers of the money saw the laws governing Charter Schools to be convenient measures of avoiding accountability and taking money from the government under false pretenses to inject selfish experiments into the school system. Around and around it goes, with the crooks/hackers always hiding inside the nucleus.
regarding the PTA being more frugal--- they bargain and barter for the food, games/inflatables, etc.... they have no more money than anyone else these days and have ALWAYS been responsible with the funds they raise- they provide this picnic for the KIDS and their focus is on the KIDS at all times...
the school board might even learn a few things from them!!!
Though not perfect and, at times, can be bogged down by the politics within, PTAs do work hard and the volunteers get little recognition. A huge thank you PTA members and all volunteers who work so hard to help with events and classroom instruction.
"Am I understanding this correctly? The IB program and the Charter school are the main reasons we employ a curriculum coordinator. The "rest of the school" is relatively fuss-free."
Whoever writes this dribble is uninformed, ignorant of the facts, and on a mission of misinformation. Why do you persist in misrespresenting Green Lake's charter and IB program?
"Kids are self-centered because their parents treat them like mini-gods and don't discipline them. Goes right along with the International Baccalaureate teachings."
IB teachings? The author of this quote isn't fit to put a puzzle together. Breath some water from a garden hose.
OMG!! Call the annoying scrapbooking police!!! Someone has "learnt" to cut/paste in order to directly insult someone who civilly questioned GL's alleged "need" (and expenditure) regarding a curriculum director position.
"Breath some water from a garden hose."
Garden hose up your nose? Is that how you're inhaling the kool-ade? Spare the rest of us. Thanks in advance.
I don't think anyone ever suggested that aside from the IB and Charter School that the 'rest of the school' was fuss-free. There are many, many issues needing to be addressed at the school but there is no justification for a stand alone curriculum coordinator at an exorbitant wage for a school of less than 300 students. Just like there is no justification for a stand alone administrator (at an equally exorbitant wage) and a stand alone principal - in our case, an especially inept one (at an equally exorbitant wage). The list goes on-and-on.
The curriculum coordinator issue is just one piece of the convoluted mess at GLSD. The bottom line is: less than 300 students, declining enrollment (in spite of all of the 'advanced' learning opportunities offered)...and here is the kicker...All of this stand-alone overspending results in a per student cost of more than $21,000 per year. If this doesn't seem out of whack, this annual expense rivals many PRIVATE UNIVERSITIES in the Midwest (reference Marquette; Marian; Concordia; DePaul; etc.) and greatly exceeds almost all state universities.
It doesn't take a genius to see a major problem here. When you talk hard dollars and cents a stand alone position, any stand alone position, at a school with this enrollment does not make sense, Period!
I agree with most of the views stated by Rodney Blog-oy-ovich.
But the school administration and board maintain that consolidation will cost taxpayers more than maintaining a small school.
At the last listening session, the administration was commended by an outside budget person for operating a fiscally sound budget.
What gives???
Weren't big banking institutions given high ratings for being "fiscally sound", just before they were bailed out with taxpayer millions? Read between the lines and do your own homework.
Was it an outside source that commended the school district's accounting practices, or was it a source that receives payment for its services from the school district?
Just a question, GL has public TV Channel access correct? Why aren't the School Board and City Council meetings taped so we can all see and hear what goes on? I think Ripon still does this??
I was at a school board meeting last year where this idea was brought up and shot down. Then they discussed the possibility of audio taping the meetings, because it would be too expensive or technically beyond their capabilities to actually videotape and broadcast the meetings. Of course, nothing has come of this, either. It would mean having microphones for each SB member and others who speak at the meetings.
I think the meetings should be taped and broadcast. Other cities do this. Many people cannot get out to the meetings but are still concerned about what is going on with the school board and the administration.
To the uninformed blogger who does not understand what the United Nations and the International Baccalaureate agenda stands for, perhaps you should read up on the topic before you shoot your mouth off.
The program is anti-family and anti-religion (specifically Christianity), and is avidly trying to take away parental rights and put the government in charge of our children. Thanks but no thanks. Let's end the IB "programme" in Green Lake schools as soon as is humanly possible.
GL's school enrollment is in decline? Where are the students going?
The school enrollment has declined from 375 students in 05/06 to a projected 275 in the coming school year. This is a huge percentage of the student body.
You may all state your own opinions as to why. I am sure it is a combination of reasons, but mostly because of the families that fled in response to the Bates/Tracy administration and their ineptness at running the school professionally and fairly.
Where were these students relocated, or did families simply move? I hear many families send their kids to Ripon's schools for the sports programs. Ripon cuts teachers but won't cut sports programs so it won't lose the money it receives from government for these open enrollment students.
Plain and simple--Bates, Kneser,& Tracy have driven people out of the district. Period.
Perhaps I wasn't clear in my last blog but I never mentioned consolidation (although with the ever decreasing school population it should be investigated as an option).
The outside financial expert was hired by the school to look at the possibility of a referendum to offset the budget deficits which the school will realize over the next several years.
I too was at the listening session and must say that it was a nicely staged dog-and-pony show. With the help of Ken Bates, Carol Wirth (a.k.a.: the 'paid financial expert')and Burr Zeratsky, it was a well orchestrated attempt to show how great the school is doing by staying within their budget. Hmnnn...not really the case when you have to consider a referendum to pay for things that you have put off for way too long (buildings and grounds maintenance, etc.), and continually spend money on superfluous things (legal expenses; land acquisitions; Charter School; IB Programme, etc)!!
This is/was my point of the earlier blog...
The school spends money frivolously and they have the nerve to say (pay someone to say) that they've done a good job with the costs at the school and the reason why they need a referendum is because the formula used by the state puts them at a disadvantage. They have the audacity to tell the community/taxpayers these bold face lies and then come to us with their hands held open asking for more, more, more.
Well, the economy stinks and we all need to learn to budget within our 'newly defined' means, whatever they may be - - in most cases less than we've been used to. The GLSD needs to follow suit and trim whatever expenses can be trimmed.
I wasn't fabricating any numbers when I stated the per student expense being in excess of $21,000 per year. If you really want some eye-opening facts (yes, real non-biased numbers) take a look at the State of Wisconsin Department of Instruction Website.
I'll leave it up to you to decide if this is justified but, after you've looked at the website, I challenge anyone to formulate a valid argument justifying the expense per student and the asinine spending at the school.
Take a look at what the new Princeton administrator / principal makes per year(use the following http://www.postcrescent.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/99999999/APC0110/80221166) and tell me GLSD is justified paying Bates, Tracy, Kneser and Hauer (you can't tell me a full-time guidance counselor is needed for less than 140 students in the High School) a combined $392,212 per year in salary and benefits.
Now, what was that you were confused about????
Carol Wirth. Same woman paid by Ripon school district to speak at board meetings about their last referendum asking for millions of dollars??? And you think school board's explanations about how wonderful the school is doing is just a dog and pony show? Imagine that!!!
Very informative and pretty darn accurate post by Rodney! Thanks Blogo!!
Chief!!!!!!!
Begging you for a new subject~ PLEASE!!!!
I have looked at the Dept. of Instruction website that Rodney posted in an earlier blog. It is very easy to use and I encourage you all to take a look at Green Lake schools and compare them to other schools in our area.
Yes. Compare contracts and salaries of GL's school administrators with other communities. Also know that numbers shown on Dept. of Public Instruction's website can change often. This is because each school district has its own authority code meant to allow district's to correct error, and DPI can not be expected to monitor all changes for all line items regarding all districts.
Once taxpayers start digging for truth, one can become extremely frustrated as the numbers on DPI's site can change rapidly. It's like being enchanted by the organ grinder's music while his cute little monkey steals your wallet.
If one has no questions or answers, one does not have to visit and read. One can always read DPI's site and submit open public records to the district, to see where that gets one.
One could live in the la la land of magically changing numbers or simply read the facts and form intelligent thoughts, couldn't one?
Randy--you are a true nut case.
Because of unreliable sources and cunning games, one may falsely believe their opinions are based on fact. Don't base your opinions on someone's idea of what is fact (that's hearsay), demand the documents of proof.
Although hearsay is not allowed in courtrooms, it is disheartening that taxpayers can no longer trust the "hearsay" from the public officials and school board members that the taxpayers elected to truthfully, accurately, and fairly represent the the people that once trusted them. This is what it has come to...demanding documents of proof. But school districts will stop at nothing and, at taxpayers' expense, are abusing legal resources to keep taxpayers from receiving document of proof that taxpayers are legally entitled to.
For those questioning the accuracy of the information on the DPI or DateMine websites, what gives? Are you attempting to minimize the intelligence of people by saying the data is inaccurate? From what I've been able to glean the information is pretty much dead on and it is provided by extremely reliable sources.
For those of you who haven't had a chance to look at the salary statistics or the ratio's of students to administrative staff at our wonderful GLSD, here are the links once again.
Department of Public Instruction site: http://dpi.wi.gov
DateMine website from the Post Crescent newspaper:
http://www.postcrescent.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/99999999/APC0110/80221166
The DataMine is easier to use for salary information than the DPI, but the same information is contained on the DPI site but in an Excel format.
I encourage everyone to look at these sites and formulate your own opinions on the efficacy and prudence of employing such high paid administrative people for our little school. Make sure to compare the Administrator, Principal, Curriculum Coordinator, and Guidance Counselor positions with those in like (or even larger) school districts and see what you think.
Personally (and that means just me) I was completely blown away! We are fools for letting this get so out of control...but, once again, just my uneducated, factually biased opinion.
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