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Granite School District > Superintendent's Office > Sup’s Vlog > Employees

Employees

Question – Property Tax Increase?

FY 2012 Tax proposalQuestion – Last year, as the school board considered raising the property taxes in order to fill the deficit in federal money, I supported the tax increase knowing the schools would benefit and therefore the whole community would also benefit. However, I am left with a question of how this increase will impact us on the school level. We are seeing cut backs on every side. Just this past week, our support staff hours were cut dramatically. This trend is disturbing to me. When will the tax increase impact the schools? Or will it even impact us on the school level? And are we to have the benefit of the extra revenue during this school year at all or will we not see any benefit until next year?

Response – We have attached a few slides from the tax hearing (last year) that might be helpful in responding this question.

Here is a little info on the tax increase:
· Granite had shortfalls of $28 million in FY 10, $17 million in FY 2011 and $12 million in FY 12
· Total shortfalls over the 3 years – $57 million
· Cuts were made for the full amount of the shortfalls in FY 10 and FY 11
· The Board made cuts of $7 million in FY 12 and chose to increase tax revenues by $5 million to close the budget gap
· Taxes were increased to “maintain class size & services to schools”
· Without the increased tax revenues, schools would most likely have seen increases in class sizes and cuts to services in FY 12
· There was one significant enhancement in the FY 12 budget that all elementary school teachers should be benefitting from – PE specialists have been assigned to every elementary school

As far as what you are referring to when you say that you are seeing, “cut backs on every side” or “support staff hours were cut dramatically.” Based on our review of your specific schools budgets for hourly paraprofessionals, your school has an additional allocation from Education Equity which has all been spent. It may be that they had to cut hours through the end of the year to stay within their budget. Schools have different funds that they use for support staff – Educational Equity, Special Ed, Trust Lands, etc. The principal has to manage those budgets throughout the year. If they spend their budget before the end of the school year, they might have to cut back on the hours that they use.

Thanks to our budget director for his assistance in responding to this question.

Question – 4 day school week

Question – What do you think about a 4 day school week?

Response – Interesting question.  After the state board of education granted waivers to a couple of rural school districts we explored having four academic days and scheduling ALL sports and extracurricular activities on Fridays.  Significant scheduling conflicts became obvious immediately.  In any event, the state has indicated (by denying subsequent requests) that requests from districts without the rural transportation issues would not be granted.

Spring Break Follow-Up!

Hello all!

I haven’t written a general note for a while but want to do so now.

Can you believe Spring Break is already behind us? Is anyone other than me counting days to the end of the year? I often have people ask me, “How’s everything?” That’s an impossible question. I usually answer by saying “Many things are great!” I will tell you with absolute sincerity that I truly appreciate the many examples of people stepping up and working through challenges constructively and cheerfully. You are really crucial parts of a great team – I’m glad to be on the team with you.

As you know, the legislature ended a few weeks ago and it looks as though we’ll have the best financial year we’ve had in quite a while. You may have seen reports that there was an error from the state office of education that means that the funding is $25 million short. While that is true, after an extensive meeting with the state superintendent yesterday, I am confident that we will not be impacted. Please don’t let that worry you.

An update on some of the things we’ve been working on here:

About 6 months ago (end of October) you all sent in the feedback with answers from the PowerPoint questions. I sent the responses out to all of you for further thoughts and we’ve been working to identify themes. It’ll come as no surprise that a common theme is the frustrating tension between expectations and tools – “You want me to do this work but you don’t give me the resources [time, equipment, etc.] that it takes.” In this same vein, there is a huge voice that shouts out that there is more to educating the whole child (and preparing them for college, career and life in a 21st Century world – something that starts no later than kindergarten by the way) than language arts and math. Given these messages, here’s what’s underway right now:

We’re taking the core curriculum, all of the subjects (they’re all important), and identifying the truly essential concepts. When we’ve identified what we think are really the essential concepts of, say, the 4th grade music core (or science or social studies or art – you see where this is going), we’ll send these out for your feedback again – I suspect our 4th grade experts (you 4th grade teachers) may want to lengthen/shorten the list. With buy-in and consensus on the essential concepts of all 14 plus 4th grade curriculum areas, we’ll put these into a content management system that, in addition to a realistic scope and sequence, will have Tier I, II and III lesson plans, ELL lesson plans, acceleration/enrichment lesson plans, complete with links to associated learning tools (remember the “what taught, how taught, how demonstrated, materials needed” stuff from the methods classes – we were supposed to fill out the sheet for every subject for every lesson for every day? – it will be done for you, with resources already attached). To make this better, the plans will be coordinated between different subjects and the realistic scope and sequence so that a single activity will meet objectives in multiple areas. I know, I know, you’re thinking that this isn’t new, you’ve been doing it for years. You’re right. However, the feedback you’ve sent suggests strongly that with planning time at a premium, not to mention changing demographics, that some folks are feeling overwhelmed. They recognize that change and adjustment is necessary but are stuck. I happen to think that it’s the district’s job to provide the tools – and the training to use the tools – to enable you to meet changing expectations in these transformational times. Please don’t think this is pie-in-the-sky, we have much of the infrastructure already in place – we won’t be rolling it out next week, but once the essential concepts are nailed down things will move quickly. I know many of you are using Kahn Academy (or similar) stuff now, this is right around the corner. A few facets I think will be important will be to allow teachers to upload and share their existing plans if they want and to do the Facebook “like” or “dislike” thing for lessons that are on already. District specialists will then have responsibility to continually update resources and lesson plans. I’ve outlined this in an elementary context but it has secondary application as well.

Now, the question lots of you have asked and I suspect many of you are thinking right now is “great, what are you expecting me to do tomorrow?” or “what are you going to make us do next year?” We are polishing up a technology continuum right now. Recognizing that folks are at different technological places, other than the basic floor of “web presence,” we’ll have educators and their supervisors discuss and set a technology goal as part of the PG&E process. That way you’ll be able to pick from the continuum and tailor that expectation into something that is not only achievable and realistic, but also makes sense to you and your work.

As I look out and see the rain, I want you to know that spring really is on the way and that the school year is about to end. As you know, I’m wrapping up my first full year as superintendent and I see considerably more forehead when I look into the mirror, and I fear my hair will soon be as fair as it was when I was in elementary school myself. I’ve learned a lot and I thank you for your patience with me, your willingness to let me know your thoughts, and most importantly, the service you render to children and their families.

Thanks again,

Martin

Question – Grading Schools?

Question – When will the newest idea from our state legislators take effect? When are our schools going to be graded and what are the qualifiers?

Response – I share your frustration that oftentimes, the mandates passed on from the legislature can be taxing and decrease morale among our hardworking educators. Currently, the school grading bill is undergoing some amendments for implementation this next fall. We are working to communicate with our legislators the impacts of all programs and suggest you do the same. At this point it looks as though implementation of the new “system” will be delayed for another year. 

By the way, regardless of the grade that ultimately results – we encourage you to celebrate the growth of each student with the student’s parents.  With my very own children, when I know that they are progressing, achieving, love learning, and have teachers who genuinely care about them and their growth, I’m not particularly interested in the label the building gets on some report downtown.  if we focus on the things we know make a difference pedagogically, kids will thrive, parents will be pleased and, I believe, the school grading system will take care of itself.

Thanks for serving the kids!

Superintendent Snapshot – Cart Before the Horse on Technology?

Here is the latest snapshot regarding the technology initiative the Superintendent is pushing. Please continue submitting your questions!

Superintendent Snapshot – Early Retirement Option?

Great question for the snapshot this week on the early retirement incentive. Here you go.

Question – Sick Leave Hours

Question – This is my twenty-eighth year as a teacher in Granite District. Even with having four children and one major surgery. I still have over five hundred hours of sick leave. There is no compensation for those sick leave hours when I retire, which saves the district money. However, I know of some teachers, who could use my sick leave hours. They do not have any because they have wasted their sick leave but have serious health problems. They do not have any hours left and need to have their pay deducted to compensate for their lack of sick hours until short term disability kicks in to use. Is there any way that I could donate some of my hours to someone else? It would not save the district any money, but it would be compassion for those who are in need.

Response – We often say that the best insurance policy an employee can have is a large accrued sick leave balance. That is great that you have been able to accumulate such a large amount of sick leave over the years. I believe your sick leave balance shows your dedication to the noble career you have chosen.

Although Granite School District does not have a Catastrophic Sick Leave Bank (where employees can donate sick days), GSD does have two specific insurance policies in place to help employees who have depleted their sick leave balance. These two policies are known as Short/Long-Term Disability (STD). STD benefits pay a percentage (80%) of an employee’s salary if the employee becomes temporarily disabled, meaning they are unable to work for a short period of time due to sickness or injury (excluding on-the-job injuries which are covered by worker’s compensation insurance). STD benefits are also intended to serves as an income “bridge” during the period a claim has been submitted for Long-Term Disability (LTD). LTD benefits are in place to provide income (66.67%) to the employee who is unable to work for a long period of time (beyond four months).

Both of these policies help to ensure that even if an employee has used all of their accrued sick and personal leave, they have options for not only continued salary, but also continued insurance benefits as well. In addition, employees who have sick leave do not feel obligated or pressured to donate from their own accrued sick leave balances.

We would remind you as well, that when you began your career with Granite, retirees could choose between a percentage buy-out of unused sick leave or receive a payment of 1/2 of 1% times the # of years of service.  As it worked out, the calculation was always a higher number than buy-out.  Recognizing the better deal, teachers negotiated the calculation into the professional agreement (see Article 23.1.2) and dropped the buy-out option.

Thanks to the Benefits Office for their assistance in responding to this question.

Question – Calendering Questions

We received many questions on this issue such as:

Question 1 – Next year’s calendar has some troublesome issues:
1. By starting so late that gives Granite teachers less instruction time than Canyons, Alpine, Provo, Salt Lake or Jordan school districts. This puts teachers at a real disadvantage to the other school districts. Provo and Salt Lake have a two week head start on Granite. This calendar is detrimental to obtaining optimum teaching results. It’s even more of a concern since our CRT scores, AP scores, IB scores are now published in the paper. Does this calendar really help our “failing schools and school district”?

2. What in the world are we supposed to do with our students for two weeks after Memorial Day? It’s difficult when CRT’s and AP exams are completed by the 2nd week of May. IB exams continue into the third week of May. We’ve covered the text book and finished our exams. Of course we can continue to find educational activities but the students know we have completed the course and Memorial Day signals the start of summer vacation.

3. We’ve put our high school students at a real disadvantage when it comes to finding a summer job. Granite students are out of school June 7th. Their “competition” is out by Memorial Day- again, a one or two week head start for the other school district.

I’m starting to wonder if this is a calendar based on the educational needs of our students or a means to provide cheap babysitting for two weeks. Why do we continue to base our calendar as if our pioneer heritage is in full force and we need to plant and harvest the crops with the extended vacation in August? One of the district goals is to prepare students for the 21st century. I think it’s time our school calendar revolved around testing and performance needs rather than three month summer vacations.

Yes, I know we vote on the calendar but I really doubt the educational consequences of the calendar are made known to parents. I’ve talked with them, I’ve interviewed my classes- all they look at is Winter and Spring recess. At a minimum could we publish the pro’s and con’s of each calendar when we vote in the future?

Question 2 – It may be too late to change the schedule for 2013, but starting later makes the job of an AP teacher even harder than it already is. We already lose a month of teaching time on the regular schedule – on the 2013 schedule we will lose almost a month and a half. We need to teach the entire curriculum, teach the students to write, give them time to practice writing (both essays and DBQs) and still have about 2 weeks of review time before the first week in May. Also, leaving that much time after AP testing, IB testing, Concurrent testing makes for very restless students. In short, for many reasons, I am asking (and hoping) that you rethink next year’s schedule. Is it possible to have a schedule that starts earlier in August and ends the week BEFORE Memorial Day? Using the week before Memorial Day to close out school and graduate just seems to make the most sense.

Question 3 – Granite School District is doing wonderful! But the problem i have is. I have kids in Elementary, Junior High, and High school. Elementary get the Jr high and high schools end of term off. But they don’t get short days. So my elementary kid is home alone and i cant get him a baby sitter since all the other kids i usually have look after him are still at school. This is a real issue and i’m sure it is for other parents to. I wish elementary wouldn’t get there end of terms off. It would make a lot of things easier for parents. Expectantly when you come home and see that your child has trashed the house and broken every single dish. Hope you consider getting rid of elementary having high school end of term days off.

Question 4 – I was wondering if there is any way that we can have a 2 week holiday break next year? As a teacher who puts in a lot of extra hours, who is taking classes for endorsements, and who is continually trying to have time with my family, having those few extra days that other districts received would have given me time to prepare and really enjoy the holidays. I realize that we get out of school a few days earlier than other districts in June, but personally I would feel as though I was getting a Christmas Bonus to have the 2 weeks of vacation. I know that I am not alone in my desire. I would be more than willing to work a few more days in June to have the 2 weeks off in December. It would be great if our school board would reconsider next year’s calendar.

Question 5 – I just had a question about the traditional schedule. I am in one of the schools transitioning from year-round. I actually support the change, as I feel that there was a lot of wasted time with all the going on and off track. I definitely think a traditional schedule is more conducive to a sustained learning environment. That being said, I think having an occasional break in the schedule is still beneficial to families/students/teachers, be it to just have a time to breathe, to catch up on grades & lesson plans, to travel, etc. I wonder if a hybrid-type of schedule was considered or is a possibility in coming school years (even next year)? What I mean by that is having something similar to one of the two following possibilities:

A) Start school a week earlier (Aug. 20), and extend Fall Recess to a whole week (Oct. 15-19), extend Thanksgiving Recess to a whole week (Nov. 19-23), and Winter Recess to a full two weeks (coming back on Jan. 7), then having the last day of school be on June 12. Summer vacation is only shortened by a week and a half, yet we still have some breathing time in the school year. If the school is closed during these week-long breaks (two weeks for Winter Recess), operating costs shouldn’t be greatly affected, right?

B) Start school two weeks earlier (Aug. 13), and extend Fall Recess to two weeks (Oct. 8-19), extend Winter Recess to two weeks (Dec. 24-Jan. 4), extend Spring Recess to two weeks (Mar. 25-Apr. 5), and end the school year on June 14. Summer vacation is only shortened by three weeks (so it’s still two months long), and we have some decent breaks in the school year. Again, if the school is closed during at least some of these break times, operating costs shouldn’t be greatly affected.

I am partial to option A, since the breaks are less dramatic (shorter), and therefore would result in a smaller disruption in learning continuity. I understand it is important for families who have children in elementary and secondary schools to have the same schedule, so the options above or any similar to them would be for both elementary and secondary schools.

Question 6 – I’m hoping that it was just an oversight in scheduling and not that educators are supposed to be UN-romantic. However, I noticed that the Spring Parent Conferences are scheduled for the Junior High teachers and parents on Valentine’s Day. While that may not be a problem for some, it will be for some others, myself included. While Valentine’s Day isn’t one of those major holidays, it is still a day some of us plan on doing something with our wives. In fact, for once in my life I actually planned ahead and have tickets to a concert. An easy solution could be to put both High School and Junior High Conferences on the Wednesday and Thursday (15th and 16th) having them overlap both days rather than just overlapping the one day. That would move the Junior High Conference off of Valentines.

Response – The procedure for determining the 2012 -2013 calendar (or any calendar) includes forming a committee of parents, teachers, principals, district administrators, GEA, and transportation. Reviewing the most recent survey from parents, this committee decides on two calendars that best represent the data from the survey. The calendar committee has been unanimous in their decision on the two calendars. These two calendars are posted to our web site, for input from parents, teachers, and students. The results of this input, along with the two calendars, is shared with the Board. The School Board then selects the calendar with the most support. This was the case with the approval of the 2012 – 2013 calendar.

Of the five concerns that we received:
– One wants to start one week earlier, end two weeks later, and lengthen every break during the year.
– One wants a two week winter break
– One wants the elementary school to be on the same schedule as the secondary (which will probably happen after the next board meeting)
– Two want to start earlier and end the week of Memorial Day (a week or two earlier) with no longer winter break, with testing as their number one concern

Unfortunately the competing values are often mutually exclusive.  This makes the surveys we’ve been conducting from year-to-year so important – they help inform the decision for the calendar under review and provide conceptual direction for calendar development for future years.

On the other hand, we will more clearly identify the implications associated with potential calendars as we post them for review and input in the future.  We strive to develop calendars that best meet the needs of students, parents and teachers.  We will certainly reinforce this as we meet with future calendar committees.

Thanks to our School Leadership and Improvement Services Directors who head up our Calendar Committee for assisting in responding to these questions.