Guest column: DeKalb Schools ought to clean house and start fresh
I was planning to post this essay on DeKalb by local writer Janusz Maciuba later today, but events got ahead of it. A DeKalb resident, Maciuba teaches English as a Second Language at an area technical college.
Here is his piece with my note on today’s updates:
By Janusz Maciuba
The most popular teacher in every school is not the one who can control a class of hooligans or inspire students to love Shakespeare or physics. It is the teacher who knows about the retirement plan.
This teacher could explain why DeKalb is paying for two superintendents when there is only need for one.
Ramona Tyson, the previous interim superintendent, now tucked away in a make-work job, is still earning $235,000 a year.
The retirement teacher can explain: A teacher’s pension is based on years served and the average of two highest consecutive years of salary. If she had reverted back to a $150,000 position at the end of the interim period, she would be entitled to around $100,000.
Meanwhile, back at the ranch, the DeKalb Board of Education is scrambling to avoid being dissolved. Time is marching to the almost foregone conclusion in three weeks. Deckchairs are being stacked on the Titanic. What can they do to prove they can change?
Here’s an idea: stop paying for two superintendents, stop this thievery of our property taxes, and recover the misused money.
Another idea: fire Ralph Taylor, who once worked with Dr. Atkinson for the Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools. (Revealed today, Tayor has resigned.)
According to the AJC story, he got a sweetheart contract to write a $10,000 report which proved to be heavily plagiarized. Then he got a sinecure as associate superintendent for $121,726. He is willing to give the little money back, of course, and keep the big money.
Dr. Atkinson’s deep thought relayed through a spokesperson, “The infraction pertains to his work as a consultant, not as an employee.”
What? Sixth-graders understand plagiarism but an associate superintendent with a doctorate doesn’t?
It must be okay to hire a man who doesn’t understand academic standards or common morality. How our school superintendent can defend this behavior and her own is beyond imagination and common sense.
So, the third idea: fire the superintendent because nothing has improved in her year on the job. She has hired incompetent friends at high salaries. She has not reduced the bureaucracy. The school system is on probation.
Do not pay her to leave.
Fourth idea: Stop offering golden parachutes in a superintendent’s contract. They are deployed too often in DeKalb County. Make in a by-law.
For other ideas the board members should read the DeKalb School Watch Two blog to find out the extent of cronyism and ineptitude that is going on in the DeKalb school system. For instance, a blogger estimates that more than $20million could be saved annually by following the correct salary structure.
Take action on as many problems as possible in the next week.
Even though there seems to be little hope of school board members all retaining their seats, this is a time to establish the beginnings of a new directions for future boards and to leave some measure of progress that has been lacking in all the in-fighting, power-wielding, employee abusing, and parochially-focused behavior of the past that led the SACS to put DeKalb on probation.
There is still time to go out with dignity. There is still time to leave a small positive legacy.
Start today.
–from Maureen Downey, for the AJC Get Schooled blog
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89 comments Add your comment
Mandella1099
January 29th, 2013
11:20 pm
@dekalbteacher
Don’t get hung-up on a word – keep the focus on the rest of your comments in your post
triage – A process in which things are ranked in terms of importance or priority
Concerned in DeKalb
January 29th, 2013
11:37 pm
ODD OWL…umm how many of those “elected” officials in DeKalb are Republicans? They are the ones who’ve got the system in this mess…not Bush, not Reagan.
for a matter of fact…not all people who work in the central office of the school system make $100,000 or more…many make less than 40,000 and are expected to get the work of two people done in a 40 hour work week. Many end up working time they don’t get paid for so blanket statements about the central office are not fair to those people.
Georgia
January 29th, 2013
11:42 pm
ACHOO!!!
dekalbite
January 30th, 2013
12:02 am
“My original blog showed that Ms.Tyson would increase her pension by over $40,000 annually from staying at the $235,000 job for two years, assuming 30 years of service.”
You are correct on that $40,000, but you underestimated. $235,000 for two consecutive years x .60 (60% = 2% x30 years) = $141,000. Her former salary was $165,000 for two consecutive years x.60 = $99,000. That is an increase of $40,000 a year.
25 years x $40,000 is $1,000,000 although that is really too simple because a 3% increase every year (that is guaranteed) over say 25 years. 3% compounded annually will yield a much greater spread over 25 years on $141,000 versus $99,000. Look at the employee’s pension comparisons over just TEN years:
Pension over TEN year time (with 3% increase) for $99,000 as the beginning pension:
$99,000, $101,970, $105,029, $108,179, $111,425, $114,768, $118,211, $121,757, $125,410, $129,172
Pension over TEN year time (with 3% increase) for $141,000 as the beginning pension:
$141,000, $145,230, $149,586, $154,074, $158,696, $163,457, $168,361, $173,412, $178,614, $183,973
So you can see that the spread over just a TEN year period of time goes from $40,000 to $54,801. In other words, by year ten, the employee would be making $54,801 more a year in pension with this raise so in 25 years it would be considerably more than a $1,000,000.
I thought the raise was only for 18 months and then she would revert for the last 6 months back to $165,000. In that case $1,000,000 is probably a more accurate figure assuming 25 years.
From Georgia TRS:
“After determining a member’s consecutive twenty-four months which produce the highest average salary, which also represents at least two years of service credit, a base year is determined for the average salary limitation against which the first of the two highest years is compared. The resulting allowable salary for the first of the highest two years is then compared to the second of the highest two years.”
http://www.trsga.com/ActiveMember/SalaryLimitation.aspx
ODD OWL
January 30th, 2013
12:15 am
The Republicans introduced politics into the public school systems when they embraced and pushed private schools, religious schools and charter schools… All of these alternative schools are designed and set up to defund and dismantle the public school system… The Republicans are vehemently anti public school and anti public education… The Republicans have removed the children from the whole public school debate… The Children have been left out of the equation entirely, they’re very seldom mentioned anymore…
Flabberghastedforsure
January 30th, 2013
9:56 am
@ moderation: I agree that the voters should be the ones to establish who serves them and that recalls would be the logical path. Sadly that doesn’t seem to be happening and the kids can’t wait so that leaves the state BOE/governor. It is quite curious that the Fernbank area has not begun a recall for Gene Walker – if they care about all the children of DCSD, what are they waiting for? Surely they don’t condone his behaviors. Something’s rotten in Denmark. Come on Fernbank – use your power base to start turning this ship around.
The Deal
January 30th, 2013
10:21 am
The time to say that elected officials shouldn’t be able to be removed by the Governor was when the law was being sent through the legislature. The state BOE is simply following the law. SACS placed DCSD on probation, and the hearing is a required follow-up activity. If you don’t like the law, contact your legislator. This is not an elephant we can eat one bite at a time. We need a big boost, and removing the BOE, which would hopefully lead to a new superintendent, is a good start.
And to those who say we got a “fresh start” with Atkinson either don’t remember or like to rewrite history. There was MUCH opposition to Atkinson, given all of the questionable board activities with respect to the other candidates and the revelation of her non-success in Ohio (as evidenced by the fact that the state took over that system after she left). There was no fresh start on the board. There are consistent 7-2, 6-3 votes. You can turn over the 2 and 3’s, but it doesn’t change the 6 or 7. There was also no fresh start in the central office except for a questionable super to bring in her own questionable cabinet.
I don’t consider any of that a fresh start.
DeKalb Inside Out
January 30th, 2013
10:27 am
Nancy Jester sheds some light on what’s going on. Apparently the January 17, 2013 proceeding with the State Board of Education was not a hearing. That would explain why the Ga BOE was not thorough in their questions.
Ramona Tyson – We are in this mess in no small part because of Ramona Tyson. She kept the Friends and Family program going. She and Turk produced those crazy budgets with the electricity budget out of whack. KPMG audit was all about her watch.
Replace the board? – Boards and administrators have come and gone over the last 10 years and nothing has changed. Why would a new board be any different? We can’t keep doing the same things and expect different results. What’s plan ‘B’?
DunMoody
January 30th, 2013
10:34 am
Why can’t DeKalb high schools INDIVIDUALLY seek accreditation from another accrediting agency in addition to district level SACS? Local control is possible while we wait for the state legislature to shake loose of the idea that centralized/bigger is better when it comes to public education.
Catlady
January 30th, 2013
10:54 am
Average of 2 highest years for TRS, ya’ll. For many of us, it will be about 2006-7.
bu2
January 30th, 2013
10:55 am
@the Deal
While you general comment about her Ohio district is true, your facts aren’t quite right. The system got finances straightened out enough through a tax increase last year so that the state did not carry through on their threat to take over the system.
But yes, she did lead a school system in Ohio that was on the verge of failing financially when she left. With that history and the way she handled the budget here, there’s definitely questions about her competence to financially manage a district of this size.
Concernedmom30329
January 30th, 2013
11:09 am
bu2
If you had a say, now that she has been here 15 or so months, would you keep Atkinson?
Disgusted in Dekalb
January 30th, 2013
11:28 am
This is what we know about Cheryl Atkinson at this point in her reign:
She is administrator-focused and not teacher-focused (and therefore not student-focused). The system remains as administrator top heavy as it was before she arrived. Teacher morale, as hard as it is to believe, is lower than it was before she came.
The only administrators she has removed have been replaced with equally overpaid administrators whom she knew prior to coming here (including the extremely well compensated plagiarist, Mr. Taylor).
She is interested in the appearance of transparency but not the reality.
She is interested in the appearance of seeking input from parents and community members but not in listening to their concerns and responding to them.
It is clear what Atkinson’s priorites are—maintaining the status quo and building her resume for the next career jump. More time will not change anything.
bootney farnsworth
January 30th, 2013
11:43 am
@ DunMoody,
simple. SACS greases the proper palms.
the entire accreditation process is somewhere between fraud and magic
bootney farnsworth
January 30th, 2013
11:44 am
@ disgusted
sadly, that makes her the same as 97% of all educational administrator professionals
bootney farnsworth
January 30th, 2013
11:45 am
BTW: it is two years for primary school. it used to be three for higher ed, but not sure anymore. thanks for the correction
bootney farnsworth
January 30th, 2013
11:49 am
@ catlady
if you factor in earning power, I have to go back to the mid 90s. I had a technically higher income in ‘12, but considering the escalating costs of benefits, frozen wages, and cost of living …..I was actually bringing in a bunch less than I was then
bu2
January 30th, 2013
12:30 pm
@Concernedmom
I wouldn’t renew her based on what I know. But I wouldn’t fire her now. That would lead to even more chaos and not focusing on the more pressing issues. It could also make SACS mad (like it or not, we have to deal with them now). IMO the board needs to hold her to deadlines, clear expectations on the financial and other reporting they need and give her clear priorities to focus on the children, not the adult employees. I suspect she has been given the opposite directives and been hindered in that.
DeKalb Inside Out
January 30th, 2013
1:01 pm
The Deal
Yeah, when the law was sent through legislation would have been a good time to decide if it was constitutional or not. Challenging existing laws happens all the time. It’s in the hands of the judges now.
I agree with ConcernedMom that just getting rid of Atkinson in and of itself won’t do any good. But we can’t just tell her to focus on the children and do better.
Beverly Fraud
January 30th, 2013
3:32 pm
“I think that it is important to point out to all of those posters, bloggers, etc… that are demanding that all of DCSS be cleaned out – isn’t that exactly what Atkinson did when she came in?”
I think the whole point Nelson1099 is that no one knows “exactly” what she did, because no one in DCSS is willing to tell exactly how the money is being spent.
dekalbite
January 30th, 2013
3:44 pm
If the BOE reduces class sizes and tells Atkinson she cannot go past those class sizes she will have to direct the resources back into the classroom. The BOE allowed Lewis,Tyson and Atkinson to raise class sizes in order to keep everyone employed. All they had to do was hold the line on class sizes and the superintendent would have to figure out where to pare down. This is what Barnes did. He reduced class sizes and told the superintendents to do whatever they wanted in terms of staffing, but they COULD NOT go over the class size limits. He made the classes very small. Superintendents disliked this intensely because they had to pare down the non teaching support side. However it was great to walk into classrooms and see kids getting to do activities that they could never do with large classes. Unfortunately, Perdue came in and immediately let the superintendents raise class sizes.
DeKalb had Johnny Brown as superintendent during that time. That’s why he did the 2004 Ernst and Young Compensation Audit (the missing one) and had the BOE pass a retirement buyout for personnel who had 30 years and were OUTSIDE the classroom. He needed to shed non teaching personnel and he needed to bring compensation for non teaching positions in line with marketplace salaries. He had no wiggle room on these small class sizes. That is the ONLY time in 40 years as a DeKalb employee I ever saw the Central Office reduced.
Lewis came in as Perdue was elected and immediately begin to replace all those 30 year personnel the taxpayers had just spent millions buying out. He established a plethora of departments and programs. Every superintendent that followed him paid for additional non teaching personnel with class size increases. The budget was always balanced on the backs of the teachers in the classroom so it is safe to say that they balanced the budget on the backs of students.
Set class sizes small, do not waver, and then let the superintendent decide what and who is really necessary. That is a simple and clean way to pour the resources back into the classroom, and there is not a parent in DeKalb who would not support them.
The Deal
January 30th, 2013
4:00 pm
I just don’t understand why people think that the group that got us into this mess can get us out of it. And do we want a group who had a big hand in our current situation correcting it only because they are getting pressure from SACS, parents, DA, and the state BOE? They certainly weren’t headed in the right direction on their own. Would I fire a contractor who did shoddy work, took more money than budgeted, didn’t show up, argued with me, and then thought his job was to pay his subs instead of remodel my house?
If the majority of DeKalb thinks that we should stick with this group, great. I’ll read about you online from some other county where the voters have a clue.
Disgusted in Dekalb
January 30th, 2013
4:22 pm
Dekalbite for Superintendent (and The Deal for board chair).
DeKalb Inside Out
January 30th, 2013
4:37 pm
The Deal
If every contractor you hired over the last 7 years was terrible, are you just going to fire the current one and get another?
The Deal
January 30th, 2013
5:40 pm
DIO, yes, esp. since one contractor was indicted, one was appointed by the criminal, and one was selected by a majority with only the sane people voting no. I’d wipe the slate clean with the morons who sent me those crappy contractors and start fresh.
RCB
January 30th, 2013
6:39 pm
@Odd Owl—-you’re funny.
Private Citizen
January 31st, 2013
3:28 pm
Milwaukee Journal Sentinel has online app showing school salaries per individuals. http://www.jsonline.com/watchdog/dataondemand/33534649.html
The 100k+ salaries seem so numerous, like stars in the sky. One wonders, why not have a similar information for all public employees, state or federal. (?) w/ comparative databases.
Private Citizen
January 31st, 2013
3:37 pm
Even the featured Milwaukee paper linked spreadsheet file on salaries show only teacher pay. Nothing NOTHING NO-THING on administrator salaries. Continued culture of caste system and hide-the-salary on administrator pay aggregate data, but using teacher caste as public object.
ShooShee
January 31st, 2013
4:55 pm
There’s an old post in the old DSW blog on the subject of Ramona’s golden parachute. Essentially, she will be rewarded with a minimum million dollar boost in salary and pension for her 18 months of sitting in the big chair… Score!! Too bad that during her tenure the kids test scores were the worst ever posted.
http://dekalbschoolwatch.blogspot.com/2011/01/it-appears-we-were-correct-about-tysons.html
From the Reporter Newspaper Report:
nterim DeKalb County schools Superintendent Ramona Tyson could receive a substantial pay increase when the DeKalb School Board meets Jan. 18, and the pay increase eventually could be a major boost to her pension through the state teachers’ retirement system.
Earlier this month, the DeKalb school board tentatively approved a deal for Tyson to receive a $238,000 salary, up from a current salary of $165,000. That’s a 44 percent increase.
A teacher or administrator in the district receives a pension upon retirement that’s largely determined by the two highest consecutive years of salary earned by that employee.
The potential jump in salary for Tyson, who has served the district 23 years, could increase her pension by tens of thousands of dollars every year after she retires.
District spokesman Jeff Dickerson said, “Ms. Tyson is unaware of the pension implications of the salary adjustment.”
Tyson couldn’t receive the increase in pension if she retired right away, said Jeffrey Ezell, executive director of the Teachers Retirement System of Georgia.
Caps have been in place for teachers and administrators who started their service after July 1, 1984, that prevent employees from cashing in on end-of-career pay spikes that would artificially inflate their pensions.
Tyson originally enrolled in the retirement system in 1987, said Jamie Wilson, human resources director for the district.
If Tyson continues employment within any school district that participates in the state’s retirement system, the pay raise she could receive with DeKalb schools could elevate her pension by tens of thousands of dollars because it could serve as a base for her two highest paid years.
Biggest Taxpayer Ripoff Ever.
Well, aside from paying for Crawford Lewis’ lawyers. And now, Atkinson’s lawyers over the mystery text messages. And the lawyers in the Heery Mitchell case. And the two sets of lawyers we have to pay so that our representation is racially ‘balanced’…
ShooShee
January 31st, 2013
4:59 pm
Amen, DeKalbite. Amen, Amen, Amen. You are speaking the truth and nothing but the truth! Why does no one with any power understand this?
ShooShee
January 31st, 2013
5:27 pm
@Disgusted in Dekalb – Yes, we ‘think’ Atkinson is administrator focused, however, we can’t know how much she is spending as she has no published Org Chart with names, and several of her hires are her own insiders from other states she has given ‘contracts’ to… contracts she can now secure up to $100,000 on her own without board approval – thanks to the board agreeing to her request to raise the limit from its previous high of $50,000 (raised under Tyson, from its original limit of $25,000) Then, when pressed to report these contracts, she responded to the board chair that it would be time and cost prohibitive to produce a list.
What?!!!
HOW MUCH IS SHE SPENDING – AND ON HOW MANY PEOPLE?!!
Student Advocate
January 31st, 2013
8:05 pm
Mandella. No, Atkinson did NOT get rid of the old top brass. She also played the old shell game they think the teachers and citizens are too stupid to notice. Hide them for a while, and then they resurface at the same or higher fat cat salary. Does the name “Dr.” Beasely ring a bell? Teachers cringed to hear some of the inept names cycle around once again.
A real org chart is needed. Our HR can’t handle this task.
Prof
January 31st, 2013
9:48 pm
If Tyson’s years of TRS credit began in 1987, then 2013 will be her 26th year…and unless she’s now 60, she can’t retire until she serves 4 more years and then it will be considered early with reduced benefits. Looks like maybe I was right in an earlier post and she’s been kept on to get her years of vested service credit up to the magic 25, if not 30 when she gets the full pension enchilada.
dekalbite@Prof
January 31st, 2013
11:03 pm
If she started in 1987 she would be well under 60. TRS says that it is based on the average of your highest two consecutive years (proper term is 24 months).
However, TRS also says that if you are under age 60, then you are penalized at 7% for every year you do not reach 30 years (with a minimum served required to be 25 years). So someone with 26 years will be penalized for 4 years (30 years – 26 years ) x 7% or 28% if they retire under age 60.
Now 26 years of service credit at 2% per yer (that is the credit you get per year) is 52%. 52% of your highest 2 year average (which is this case is $235,000) yields:
52% x $235,000 – $122,200 a year in retirement
EXCEPT remember the 7% a year penalty from not reaching 30 years and being less than 60.
4 years x 7% a year penalty would yield a 28% penalty (4 x 7% = 28%)
So take your $122,200 a year retirement and take off 28%. $122,200 x 28% is $34,216 (amount you lose a year if you retire 4 years short of 30 and you are under 60).
$122,200 (retirement for 26 years if your highest 2 years are $235,000) minus that $34,216 penalty = $87,984 a year.
Working those extra 4 years even at lesser pay with your highest two being $235,000 gives you $141,000 versus the $87,984 you would receive if you retire at the end of 26 years and you are under 60. Quite a difference!!!
Now you can why so many of the higher paying non teaching staff Lewis and Tyson hired do not want to retire – many if not most of them do not have 30 years and they are under 60. See how much they have to lose if they do not hang on to their jobs. Losing $54,000 a year in Ms. Tyson’s case would be $1,350,000 over 25 years of retirement without even considering the guaranteed 3% COLA every year for 25 years. Ms. Tyson is the extreme case, but even someone with $165,000 (what the “Cabinet level personnel made) and 25 years would lose around $30,000 a year. Over 25 years of retirement that is a &750,000 loss not even considering the loss of the 3% annual COLA on that missing $30,000 which was deducted as your penalty for retiring early under 60.
There are millions at stake in retirement so do not be surprised at the opposition to change – especially if it involves a friend or family member.
Private Citizen
February 1st, 2013
6:23 am
School system management pay schemes look like a looting of public funds, and the entire management theme / mode changes wildly depending on who is in office.
Private Citizen
February 1st, 2013
6:28 am
From the view of a worker (classroom teacher), some of these managment types go around and subvert the very teachers who are producing. It is like the are harvesting sugar cane. If they can cut / down and reduce teaching staff, then they take that money for themselves and their associate caste. It is one hell of a strange system of management to chop down workers in order to fatten middle manager caste, that is then supervised by upper management with this executive compensation packages, million dollar pay schemes and such. Meanwhile teachers with real degrees and real experience are putting in 80 work weeks for $30-50k salaries, and then are expected to give face and attention to the numerous directives from this management caste, and even have their work reviewed by the same “players” who are often in the business of subverting the work the teachers do.
Dekalbite
February 1st, 2013
9:31 am
Rereading the TRS rules it appears that in the case of Ms. Tyson (hired after 1984), she would have to retain her $235,000 salary for quite a few more years for her retirement to be based on that figure. See these TRS rules. IMO – It looks like she would be subject to that 4.3% increase figure.
“Salary Increase Limitations
In its annual meeting held June 2, 2010, the Board of Trustees adopted the following maximum salary increases for 2010-2011 that can be used by the Teachers Retirement System of Georgia (TRS) to compute a member’s highest two-year average salary:
Employees of the Board of Regents 2.50% (0.00% + 2.50%)
All Others 4.34% (1.84% + 2.50%)”
http://www.trsga.com/ActiveMember/SalaryLimitation.aspx
It seems that DeKalb County should be more specific as to this issue.
On another “Transparency in Compensation” note, DeKalb County should be publishing the titles and salaries of ALL non teaching personnel on their website. Currently, in DCSS, ONLY teacher salary schedules are published. EVERY other metro Atlanta school system publishes the title/positions and salary schedules for NON teaching personnel. DeKalb is the ONLY system that doesn’t publish any NON teaching financial information on their website. The MAG audit DeKalb taxpayers paid for was to cut and consolidate positions and their titles and establish a manageable number of salary schedules for NON teaching personnel. Yet that information remains conspicuously missing from the DCSS website. Htuman Resources has the titles/positions for NON teaching personnel. Why don’t they just upload it to the DCSS website so taxpayers can make comparisons with other metro areas?
See the link below to view what Forsyth County (and EVERY other metro system) DOES and DeKalb conspicuously DOES NOT do as far as publishing this nformation. Please take a moment to click on the link below to see what DeKalb County Schools SHOULD be doing. Taxpayers should demand DeKalb looks at this page to see what our Human Resources department SHOULD be doing:
http://www.forsyth.k12.ga.us/Page/35819
Pride and Joy
February 1st, 2013
6:19 pm
Janusz Maciuba says it!
TERRIFIC BLOG!
VERY WELL SAID!
Meredith
February 1st, 2013
7:01 pm
Good conversation about TRS. Love the probability numbers. Would love to see a comparison of metro area superintendent’s retirement pay. The only problem is Macuiba facts are wrong. Tyson superintendent’s pay ended last September 2012.