[Vision2020] Re: Subs and others

Tue May 3 12:24:12 PDT 2005

Just a minute...

Most, if not all, Profs have TA's or GA's teaching the majority of their 
classes at the UI.  To stay in contract, the prof has to have at least one 
class that they themselves teach.  TA's and GA's are  students who are 
WORKING for their Masters or PhD's.  While the profs are not teaching the 
majority of their classes, it is true that they are working on research or 
some project for a National Lab.  There are SOME departments that require 
profs to either bring in the research dollars or else, but that is on a 
departmental basis.  What the UI did years ago was tell its people that the 
money was simply not available through the legislature and they needed to 
find funding for their own projects.

As far as taking this many hours to prepare for a class or that many hours, 
let's get serious here.  Profs as a whole, don't grade their student's 
papers - they hire "graders" or have the TA's/GA's grade them.  If there is 
a dispute, the student can take it to the prof, but a lot of the time it 
stays at the level of the TA/GA.  Since the prof has most likely been 
teaching their class for a number of years, they have their lesson plans and 
syllibus already made up by the beginning of the semester.  And they don't 
type them, the clerical staff does.  Basically, most profs have clerical or 
TA/GA's copy information to be handed out.  I beleive if you were to take a 
poll, most of the prof's work is locked into their research.  I am not 
diminishing the prof's worth, just clarifying what they do.

As far as this:

"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."

The statement that Ms. Huskey made was: "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?"

To argue that janitors are not worthy of teaching is missing the point - 
ANYONE who teaches (in public schools) has to, by law, have a certificate to 
teach that subject or a general certificate such as an Elementrary/High 
School certificate.  You can not just grab anyone working in the school and 
tell them "here, you teach today" just because you need a body in the class. 
  To use a non-certified person, they have to have a VALID teaching 
creditional, they have to be registered with the Human Resources of the 
District, the Superintendant HAS to declare an emergency (i.e. there are NO 
classified subs available) and the sub, classifeid or non, HAS to have 
passed the background check and they have to be on the substitute list.

And a LOT of those aids that are working at the schools are PART-TIMERS - 
they do not make as much as some TA/GA's I know.  I was amazed at just how 
much a scholarship student could make just being involved in a program - 
more than some teachers or even IH personnel get!  Plus, they get paid out 
of the research grants - not the UI general funds.  Aides and subs are paid 
out of the MSD annual budget monies.

>--- "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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> >  serving the communities of the Palouse since 1994.
> >
> >                http://www.fsr.net
> >
> >           mailto:Vision2020 at moscow.com
> >
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