There are no members of the board with enough courage and civic-mindedness to stand up for voters, teachers, and students on the board podium. They rubber stamp Elia and took as many tax-paid trips as possible to gad about the country on larks.
When Ms. Elia created a $140,000 job for Dr. Hamilton when he was supposed to retire but wanted a paid hiatus until he could cold-call enough sucker clients for his school-lobbying racket, she did so and rolled it past the complicit board members on the consent agenda. Not one asked for the proposal to be pulled off the agenda for discussion. Now they are concerned about their own money from the tax kitty may be reduced, and all of a sudden they are interested in finance.
I have asked three times that the board investigate this soaking of the taxpayer with not a one doing so. The board is in on all the waste of money but does nothing. They all need to go. They aren't board quality. A quality board member will ask questions, make demands, pry into cabals.
Neither does the press help the situation. I wish we had a National Inquirer in Tampa to give people the real news instead of the innocuous piffle that the press prints. The Tampa Tribune is the worst, but the SPT is not far behind.
Lee De Cesare From: William Birdsall [mailto:montolino@aol.com] Sent: Friday, February 06, 2009 6:16 PM To: lee de cesare Subject:
School Board Pay Cuts Pressed By Legislature By ADAM EMERSON aemerson@tampatrib.com As school districts consider layoffs and salary cuts, the Legislature is asking elected school board members to think about reducing their own pay. The House and Senate on Wednesday passed a measure empowering school board members to voluntarily cut their salaries or reject a raise. Though some board members say they are putting everything on the budget-cutting block - including their pay - some say their compensation is being unfairly targeted. Hillsborough County School Board member Candy Olson said she would be willing to reduce her salary - members earn $40,887 a year - if the board asks other employees to do the same. That hasn't happened, Olson said. She thinks lawmakers are trying to deflect attention from their failure to find other sources of revenue. The Legislature has left a $500 million hole in the current budgets of school districts statewide. Hillsborough alone could face a $55 million deficit this fiscal year. "Would I give up my salary today? No," Olson said. "I think we need to look at a huge range of things. Everything is on the table." Initially, she and other board members were not supposed to have a choice. Sen. Stephen Wise, a Jacksonville Republican who is chairman of the Senate's PreK-12 Appropriations Committee, sought to cut school board pay by 5 percent. "We took a 5 percent cut," said Wise, referring to a cut lawmakers took in 2008. Salaries of board members statewide range from $23,116 to $40,932. Even if they all took a pay cut, the money would cover only a fraction of the budget hole deepening across Florida. Hillsborough County School Board member Jennifer Faliero said some lawmakers are trying to make a statement. "We haven't cut anyone else's pay," she said. "It seems to be somebody taking a cheap shot." Wayne Blanton, the executive director of the Florida School Boards Association, said he sought a compromise with Wise: letting school board members decide. Wise relented but said he hopes some board members will volunteer. "In this kind of economy," he said, "their leadership is extremely important."
No comments:
Post a Comment