It seems that I underestimated the superintendent’s need for aides.
On a day when the system still needs to fill 15% of their teaching positions. On a day when classrooms are still overcrowded. On a day when special needs students and their parents are still being told that their child cannot have the support that their IEP requires, the Superintendent with the consent of the board has posted not one, but two new central office positions specifically designed to support the office of the superintendent.
The first one we knew about. It’s the Director of Community Engagement and Partnership Development. What we didn’t know about this position was the salary range. Now we do. It seems that this position is going to command a salary in the range of $58,791.59 to $95,175.12 per year. (How much do you want to bet the final amount will be closer to the higher of those two numbers?)
The second position has not been discussed at any of the school board meetings since Dr. Wardynski began in July. This is the Deputy Superintendent, Instruction position, and the salary range for this position will be $84,217.06 to $134,545.26 per year.
You know, Dr. Moore was accused of a great many things. Frankly, she was far less than responsive to special needs parents, but she did not employ a deputy superintendent for a year. She did not employ a Director of Community Engagement and Partnership Development. She did not employ a Transition, Director.
How can the board and the superintendent justify these positions in the face of not one but two Reductions in Force just four and seven months ago? How can they justify these expenditures in the face of frozen teachers salaries? How can they justify these positions when classrooms have 45 children in them?
Our teachers don’t have money to buy ink. But that really doesn’t matter because they also don’t have money to buy paper. They have to beg parents to provide basic supplies. Everyone in the system is being forced to work harder for less money and to do more with few resources except Dr. Wardynski.
How can Dr. Wardynski justify ten times more aides and support than he’s offering to my son?
How can they sleep at night?
Tomorrow night at 5:30pm there will be another board meeting. At least one topic on the agenda will be Special Education. I suspect that this will include yet another report claiming that the system is meeting the IEPs of special needs students despite evidence that they are not.
No matter what he claims, please remember that our special needs classrooms are all nearly three times larger as they were a year ago. And yet the central office continues to grow.
The meeting will be broadcast on ETV (Comcast 17, Knology 99-it has recently moved from 71), and at the Huntsville City Schools website. I will also be live-tweeting the meeting @russwinn. You can follow on Twitter or on the Geek Palaver Facebook Page.
Once again, they have refused to put students first.
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