Mr. Wreight decries the $3,000 bonuses for full time teachers courtesy of the Obama administration.
What are the real priorities of CCUSD's governing board? The district recently received about $1 million in federal stimulus funding. Did they use some of it to lower class sizes, similar to the actions taken by Scottsdale and Fountain Hills school districts?Mr. Wreight then goes on to show how the average annual teacher’s has increased ‘25-30%’ in the past 7 years to an average of $50,700. Finally Mr. Wreight chastises the board for not sticking to its priorities.
What happened to CCUSD's governing principle "Children first, people always"? What happened to CCUSD's governing board strategic priority: class size?. A ranking CCUSD governing board member has said "...class size (is) very important", noting that "...our class size is a competitive advantage (PVUSD and SUSD classes are higher)..... ". Another ranking board member said "...the board is concerned about class size...".
Apparently this did not sit well with Carrie McCulloch, a Cave Creek Unified kindergarten teacher at Lone Mountain. Ms. McCulloch writes that Mr. Wreight’s information is incorrect. She goes on to say…
Please show me where my salary has grown between 25-30 percent. I can show you the numerous cuts. Also, please explain to me how the average CCUSD annual certified teacher salary from the 2009-2010 school year is estimated at $50,700, yet I earn well under that with a Masters Degree plus 45 credit hours plus 13 years of teaching experience.Mr. Wreight has an immediate retort (thanks to the Sonoran News) stating that all his facts are readily available from reporting that CCUSD provides to the state.
We suspect that Ms. McCulloch is holding back on the truth. First she touts her 13 years of experience an as educator. Well thanks to the Cave Creek Education association, overall experience has nothing no bearing on her salary, only length of service in CCUSD. According to the Certified Teacher Salary Schedule for 2010-2011, a teacher with a Master + 45 and 8 years experience (about the CCUSD average), makes close to the mid 40s for a base salary. Add to that the estimated 301 funds of $1930 and assuming that the teacher does the minimal work need to eligible for the career ladder, that teacher can add up to another $4700 to their salary (90% of teacher participate in the Career Ladder program). Let’s not forget the $3000 bonus thanks to BO, and presto, you have a salary of over $50,000. Let’s hope that Ms. McCulloch gets her NBCT so she can add another $3000 to her salary from the stipend that the district provides.
We don’t mean to pick on Ms. McCulloch, but the district is playing games by telling us on one hand that teachers salary’s are low and keep getting cut, while passing out 301/ARRA/Career Ladder/Stipends with the other. We don’t doubt that salary cuts have been made relative to the fat and happy years of pre-2008, but again here you can blame the board and the administration. They have chosen to keep as many district employees employed as possible, instead of reducing head count along with the the corresponding reduction in students. Reducing the head count would free up M&O to keep teacher’s pay at the current levels.
Mr. Wreight sums it up with…
One wonders about these comments! Is the term "class size" merely rhetoric that is revived every time CCUSD is seeking extra M&O money from the district taxpayers? One wonders, once again!We wonder the same thing when the CCUSD administration claims that our teachers are underpaid.
[Note. If we have anything factual incorrect, please let us know in the comments and we will be happy to correct.]
Add to this a 9 percent pension match and free healthcare. I wish my 401K was matched to 9 percent and my healthcare premiums were zero.
ReplyDeleteOops...You goofed in your analysis!
ReplyDeleteStep 8 on the salary schedule does NOT correspond to 8 years of teaching experience.
In many years there was no step movement.
Here's my question - how can "Will Wreight" comment on a letter to the editor in the same edition that the letter appears? Did "he" see a copy of it before it was published so "he" could comment in the same edition and immediately and swiftly refute the teacher's claim - very curious
ReplyDeleteWill Wreight is a fictitious name. There is no such person in the greater Phoenix area. Not in the tax database, not in the phonebook, not even showing up on Intelligus (or whatever that thing is called).
ReplyDeleteCarrie McCulloch is a well respected teacher at LMES. Extremely trustworthy and reputable. Thousands of parents have come to know her over the year. SN is kidding itself if it thinks that the readers who know Carrie will believe Will Wreight over Carrie. In fact, they might have even shown their true colors to some of the LMES parents who still thought they were a "reputable" paper.
Exactly - and here this blog is quoting "him" - that is all.
ReplyDeleteThe word is Debbi Burdick went to China over Spring Break on the district's dollar. And there's no money to pay the teachers. Hmmm...
ReplyDelete