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Sup’s Blog

Question – Wage Freeze?

Question

For the last 3 years many employees have been at the same wage due to a freeze. We have made this sacrifice so the teachers could receive their negotiated monies. My question is, that with us, as employees shouldering part of the budget cuts, how long will we have to continue paying larger insurance premiums and medicine costs, with no compensation for our years worked or our increased education. In the two years our salaries have been frozen, these costs have increased dramatically. We are now making less money than we did 3 years ago, even though our salaries have only been frozen for the last 2 years. These monies cannot be made up for those of us who are working towards retirement. Do we matter? This question is asked with no disrespect to the District or any one employee.

Response

Yes, principal secretaries matter.

To clarify, no employees in the district have received a COLA in several years. Two years ago teachers lost 5.5 days pay with a legislative cut. These were additional days beyond what the district funds for any employee. Consequently, for that year only, teacher steps were funded while all other employee groups did not receive step increases. Other than that one year, all employee groups have received step increases annually. Employees in all groups who are on the top step have not received pay increases. The district and board fully recognize and appreciate that employees have garnered an increased share of their insurance costs as we have dealt with over $53 million in cuts in the past three years. As such, we look forward to a time when the legislature provides funds for a COLA increase.

However, sensitivity to the great efforts of secretaries and all employees over the last few years plays into the recent award of a 1.5% bonus which was added to the June check.

Thanks for the question,

Martin

Question – Gifted Programs

Question from a patron:

Hello Mr. Superintendent,

First, thank you for being open to questions and comments, and thank you for your blog, it is informative and helpful.

I have a daughter who attends the Advanced Learning Center magnet program at Fox Hills Elementary. I’ve begun investigating her options for junior high and I am dismayed that there is no junior high level program to follow up on the ALC pattern that is established in Fox Hills Elementary. I’ve learned form other parents that Morningside Elementary has Churchill Junior High to feed its kids into, and that Churchill has programs that educate these gifted and talented kids from the ALC program. I know that junior high schools in my area- Eisenhower, Bennion, and Kearns- have their own honors or gifted programs, but they aren’t the same caliber as the ALC program.

I’ve also learned that there will be a new junior high built on the west side, and that it will be completed in time for the 2013-2014 school year. I would strongly encourage the district to include in this new junior high a magnet Advanced Learning Center program. It must be possible, and there is a need for such a program.

Response –

Thank you for the great question. There is an error is assuming that Morningside students feed to Churchill because it has a program. In reality, most of the students at Morningside choose to attend Wasatch. At this time we have no formal magnet programs at the junior high level. Each parent of a sixth grade student receives a letter and informational handout that is updated with information each fall. Parents are encouraged to explore all of the junior high options and make the choice that is best for their child.

There is a general misconception in relation to the gifted endorsed teachers at the school. Churchill and Wasatch have a lot more gifted endorsed teachers, so the parents perceive that as having a gifted program. However, all of our junior highs offer either honors or gifted classes. The difference in the class label is whether the teacher has a Gifted and Talented endorsement.

I hope that addresses your question. I have also attached an informational sheet regarding Junior High gifted programs (linked below). If you have any other questions, please feel free to contact me again or Sheri Sorenson at the district office.

Granite School District Junior High Gifted Program

Question – Electronic Cumulative Folders

Question – Could we look into the possibility of transferring to an electronic cumulative folder for the students?

Response – Short answer, we are contemplating electronic portfolios for students K-12 that will ultimately culminate in a 12th grade capstone project. It is progressing but is still an excellent suggestion. Thanks,

Martin

Question – Chinese trips

Dear Superintendent:

I am wondering about your travel to China this summer. What is the purpose of the trip and what is the cost to the district?

Response:

Good question. The trip to China is sponsored jointly by the College Board and Hanban (Chinese National Office for Teaching Chinese as a Foreign Language). The purpose of the trip is to familiarize our education leaders with the traditional Chinese culture and the language education program they support in their districts. There will be opportunities to visit Chinese schools, observe classrooms, and meet with the Chinese educators. It is also important that we establish meaningful partnerships with these organizations as we actually have teachers from China teaching in our secondary schools. Culturally speaking, business with Chinese officials is done in person. As such, the College Board and Hanban pay all expenses for the trip with the exception of the airfare from Salt Lake to San Francisco and the cost of the participant’s travel visa so the actual cost to our district is quite minimal. Especially considering the benefit to our district and students.

Thanks,

Martin

Question – CRT’s

Dear Superintendent:

I know that this might require (maybe) some Congressional action…however…the more I think about this the more I like it.

Everyone knows that true CRT test results normally don’t happen that often. There are a lot of issues behind those names. i.e. lack of food in the home, divorce issues, death of family members, and the biggest is APATHY of students!

How might we address the issue of apathy in students? Hit them where it does matter!!!! I have heard that other states have it where if the student “passes” the test, they do not come back to school the remaining two weeks. They begin their summer early. (That’s their incentive). Those that don’t “pass” the test are required to return back to school for the remainder of the school year.

We need to think how we can get the kids motivated to do their very best on the test. I don’t think chewing gum worked. That only increased the incidences of gum chewing in school when it is not allowed.

Response:

This is definitely a legislative issue. Since the district cannot legally compel parents to take an interest in their child’s education and performance, I am interested in other teachers and administrators ideas on how we can improve student performance. Please reply to this post with your responses.

Thanks,

Martin

Question – Surplus Computers

Hi Superintendent,

I appreciate the fact that you are willing to take questions from the staff.

I think that the policy for surplus computers should be changed. Currently old computers go to the warehouse and then are discarded. I think employees should be able to buy them. I understand the district’s concern about
confidential information leaking. However, it wouldn’t take much to empty all info from the computers.

I have researched this and the 3 other districts in the state that I looked in to sell their computers on a surplus auction website, after removing all software and information. Also the University of Utah sells their old
computers, but removes the hard drive.

By having the GSD sell old computers they could make some money and employees could have some fairly decent computers. Also, it would prolong the time they would go to the dump.

Answer:

In researching your question, I spoke with Phil Johnson from our warehouse. He can be reached via email here if you have additional questions. Here is his response:

Naturally, we do not like to discard working equipment without offering these surplus assets to the public. We have determined the cost of dismantling, washing (cleaning data off the hard drive) and posting computers is not worth what patrons or employees are willing to pay. We currently recycle the computers with a company called Electronic Recycling Solutions. This company has a $1,000,000.00 liability insurance per incident policy. They are also qualified to clean or wash hard drives to the Department of Defense standards. The risk factor along with the estimated 20 to 30 minutes to actually clean the data off a computer and restore the operating system back to the original starting point is simply not cost effective when you take in account what people are willing to pay for the old machine.

We do have a policy in place to make a computer available for auction. In order for a computer to be authorized for public sale it must be cleaned by an STS professional or a staff member of Information Systems. One of these employees of the district must donate their time to prepare the computer. Once the computer has been prepared for sale, the employee submits a form available through Information Systems Service Center. The sale is then approved by the Information Systems Service Center, and the machine is posted on the auction site, www.publicsurplus.com where the employee can then bid on the specific machine.

I would like to point out that the Surplus Warehouse does not send the computers to the Land Fill. Each computer is recycled according to strict electronic waste standards. Computers that are worth keeping complete are prepared for resale and those of no value are dismantled into various waste categories. The recycle company pays one rate for the usable computers and a different rate for scrap.

Superintendent Snapshot – Dual Immersion

All,

Here is the latest snapshot video regarding dual immersion. This is our last video of the school year, but keep submitting your questions to SuperintendentsBlog@GraniteSchools.org and I will post responses all summer long. Thanks so much for all the work you do.

Sincerely,

Martin

Superintendent Snapshot – Question about professional development

“Dear Dr. Bates,

My husband is a Granite District employee and has been interviewing for a principal position for the past several years and each year has been unsuccessful. It is very frustrating to watch him get rejected each year and not know why. Is there a principal mentoring program available for those hopeful and dedicated employees, so that they can better themselves and achieve their full potential?”

Response- Thanks for the great question. I have a vision of the school principal’s role transforming in response to the various needs our students have and will bring to school each day in the future. The 21st century principalship will evolve and be defined in terms of instructional leadership, community leadership, and visionary leadership. For this ideal to responsively mature, our district is currently discussing how we should develop and grow our future principals. This discussion is still early and will develop more fully over time with the intent of purposely training, coaching, and mentoring aspiring administrators to be the prepared for this role. Thank you for your inquiry to afford me the opportunity to share this idea as we begin its development here in the Granite School District.

Sincerely,

Martin

Superintendent Snapshot – FY 2011-2012 budget challenge overview

Hello all,

I know you’ve been involved with the budget process through school community councils and other avenues. As you may know, we had a special board meeting on the 24th – and will have another one on Tuesday, the 31st – as we’re building the budget. Here is a copy of last night’s PowerPoint presentation that I sent to you earlier this week and reference in the below snapshot. Board meeting May 24, 2011.

I think the Board is keenly aware of sacrifices you have made and continue to make. In fact, as we talked about changes to the health insurance plan over the last few years, board members rose to applaud the 100 or so employees who attended the meeting. Please attend on the 31st at 8pm if you can.

I encourage you to look at the presentation closely. In a very real way you are the most credible (and therefore the best) advocates of public education in general and certainly our district and schools.

Thanks for all you do and have a great weekend!

Martin

Question regarding facebook access

I had a teacher out at Whittier Elementary submit the following question:

“I really like your snapshot idea. My question is why are teachers denied access when we try to go on your facebook?
I like how involved you are and how you are trying to keep us informed about what is going on in the district.”

It is a great question. Our district social networking committee continues to study social networking opportunities to see what they provide in terms of enhanced learning. Earlier this year, they recommended to the superintendency that we open up youtube because of the potential value to the learning experience. Our district social networking policy states that teachers and other district employees are not to be “friends” with students on any social networking sites. However, it does allow social networking sites to be authorized for classroom use if a teacher submits a proposal to their supervisor that offers up educational value for their students.

Regardless, we are reviewing opportunities to open facebook up to our schools. We anticipate a potential pilot for school administrators to have access to facebook starting next year. This would provide them a tool to investigate bullying and other violations of safe school policy.

Our district utilizes facebook as an public outreach tool to engage the community. There may be additional value for schools in that capacity. We continue to look at those options.