[Vision2020] Charter Schools and Annualized Salaries . . . again

Tue May 3 07:17:03 PDT 2005

<melyndahuskey at earthlink.net> wrote:

"Prof. Wenders earned about $43,000 per year.
Professorial time is
> generally calculated at 9 hours a week per class. 
> Prof. Wenders, if my research is correct, taught one
> class per year, which puts his hourly rate of pay at
> $263.80.  Annualized to 2080 hours per year--what
> most of the rest of us work, and what he could have
> worked if he'd chosen to, according to his own and
> the Cato Institute's logic--that puts him at
> $548,711.65."

Not speaking on behave of Professor Wenders, but he
worked probably about about 40-60 hours a week
considering that he was on many University Committees
and did research outside of the classroom.

Professors make far more for the University in
research grants through federal, state, and private
companies then their salaried. If they do not, the
University gets rid of them. 

An associate professor the University of Idaho with 12
years of college is expected to make many times their
salary in grant work and they make less then what an
entry level secondary school teachers makes in the
MSD. 

Lectures at UI have at least a master's degree. They
make only a few thousand dollars per class. Many of
these classes can have over 100 students.

I find it profoundly ignorant and insulting to the 
lectures and professors at the University of Idaho to
assume all they do is the work in the classroom. Do
you really think it only takes 6 hours to prepare for
a three hour class, grade papers, and answer 100
questions from students? For each class. 9 hours a
week? Get real!

I am not going to argue whether the wages at the MSD
are high enough. I do not know if you can put a dollar
value on somethings like education, police and fire
protection, military, and medical services. There is
not enough money in the world to pay the REAL value of
those services. They are invaluable to society. But
there is a limited amount of resources.

However, I do know that a high school educated
teacher's aide at entry level in the MSD makes more
than a five year lecturer at UI with a master's. So
you can imagine who my sympathizes are with.

I also think it is unfortunate that you think just
because someone is a janitor they are not smart enough
to be a teacher. I know many smart janitors with a 
bachelor's degrees and are very good with people. In
the state of Idaho all you need to teach as an
"emergency" substitute teacher is a bachelor's degree
and pass the background check. Many janitors around
here meet those requirements. They are not just a
bunch Idaho hillbilly rednecks that only know how to
push a mop. 

Take Care,

Donovan J Arnold 

--- "melyndahuskey at earthlink.net"
<melyndahuskey at earthlink.net> wrote:

> Dear Vision 2020 Friends,
> 
> In a recent email to levy opponents calling for the
> blanket replacement of the entire Board of Trustees
> and Moscow School District administration, Jack
> Wenders writes:
> 
> "My recommendations for Superintendent Donicht's
> replacement? UI President Tim White, who cut a
> couple of million out of UI's spending; Mary Lang,
> Principal of the Moscow Charter School, which runs
> successfully by spending less than $5000 per student
> of Idaho taxpayers' money."
> 
> Interesting proposal.  Would that be the President
> White who wasted all that money on a statistical
> analysis of academic programs that the faculty were
> able to discredit within minutes of seeing it?  Who
> just hired a breathtakingly expensive temporary Vice
> President--and threw in a $25,000 lagniappe to his
> headhunting firm, a car, and three trips a month to
> the coast?
> 
> More to the point, would that be the Mary Lang who
> cut costs at Moscow Charter School back when my
> daughter was a kindergarten student (2000-2001) by
> allowing the janitor, a high school drop out, to
> serve as a substitute teacher?  In those days, MCS
> had a 97% teacher turn-over rate each year, a
> striking inefficiency.  Special education services
> were extremely limited.  And educational outcomes
> were less than stellar, despite the hard work of the
> excellent teachers (all of whom were able to find
> other jobs, thank goodness).
> 
> I've had a rather extensive experience with charter
> schools--after our daughter left MCS, we tried out
> Renaissance Public Charter School, where I ended up
> not only serving on the Board, but doing a brief
> stint as Chair.  When Jack Wenders writes:
> 
> "The hard facts are that private and charter schools
> are one-third to one-half the size of comparable
> public schools, have no administrative structure
> above the school level, and operate at 60-65% of the
> per pupil cost of the public schools, at most. And
> their students learn at least as much."
> 
> I have to laugh.  The lack of experienced
> administrative oversight above the school level was
> a key element in the failure and bankruptcy of RPCS.
>  The board simply lacked the support, experience,
> and knowledge necessary to run a school properly in
> the face of deliberate, self-interested
> incompetence.  And while RPCS did operate at a lower
> per-pupil cost for awhile, ultimately it went
> bankrupt, because the lower funds it received from
> the state were insufficient to cover the costs.  
> 
> Serving on the RPCS Board was one of the most
> frustrating experiences of my professional life--the
> incompetence of the school administration, the
> cronyism of the Board, and the complete refusal to
> respond to the needs of parents and teachers, which
> ultimately resulted in the resignation of half the
> Board and the loss of nearly half the student body
> in a two-week period.  The remaining students
> suffered significant disruption to their education. 
> I just wouldn't call that a heartwarming story of
> charter school success.  
> 
> And didn't the state just bail out the Idaho Virtual
> Academy to the tune of a couple of million bucks? 
> That's not the way I want my state education dollars
> spent, to protect the business interests of
> education profiteers like William "Baby Needs a New
> Pair of Shoes" Bennett while our facilities decay
> and our districts starve.  If these schools are so
> efficient, why the need for extra cash?
> 
> Melynda Huskey
> 
> P.S.  I've been wondering if anyone's annualized
> Jack Wenders' salary at UI?  It's an interesting
> exercise.  According to Ron Force, Prof. Wenders
> earned about $43,000 per year. Professorial time is
> generally calculated at 9 hours a week per class. 
> Prof. Wenders, if my research is correct, taught one
> class per year, which puts his hourly rate of pay at
> $263.80.  Annualized to 2080 hours per year--what
> most of the rest of us work, and what he could have
> worked if he'd chosen to, according to his own and
> the Cato Institute's logic--that puts him at
> $548,711.65.  Add benefits at 21.6% of $43,000
> (another $9,288) and you have one seriously overpaid
> critic of teacher salaries.  
> 
> Makes you wonder if UI would have more money now if
> they'd spent more wisely then.
> 
> melyndahuskey at earthlink.net
> EarthLink Revolves Around You.>
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