The Ruling Class
Public school administrators and educators are solidly united in their opposition to parents having a choice in their children's education. The more children who attend a certain school district, the more money that becomes available to pay those administrators' salaries. It is much easier for a high paid administrator to fight against school choice for families than it is to work hard to provide a quality education for those families. Competent school leaders who know that they can deliver quality education to kids should not be afraid of choice, because they should know that parents will choose the good schools for their kids.
For obvious reasons related directly to quality, D11 administrators are adamantly opposed to parental choice. D11 administrators join their labor union allies in backing school board and legislative candidates who promise to fight any attempts by parents to choose a quality school for their children. Administrators are not brought into D11 based on their proficiency as educators; they are brought in based on who they know in the system who can get them a lucrative salary or contract with the district. The pot of taxpayer money that funds D11 is a large playground for the administration. The district takes nearly $500 million annually from the tax payers, but you will never find a cost analysis that demonstrates how these funds positively impact the education of our kids.
Surely the ruling class in D11 live among us and have a direct interest in the performance of our schools. Surely their kids are subject to the same education decisions that the rest of us have to endure. Surely the ruling class struggles with us to make ends meet, and surely they would not hesitate to educate their kids in Hunt, or Adams, or Mitchell, or any other D11 school. Surely you must be crazy if you believe any of that for a minute.
I have already listed on my blog the names of the 6-figure earners in D11. While most people are expected to demonstrate a certain level of proficiency when they earn their $40,000 salaries, these 6-figure earners have no such accountability measures, and they can continue to draw their salaries based on nothing more than a promise to do better next year. Where does the D11 ruling class live on the money that we, the tax payers, give to them each year?
The Superintendent of D11 schools, Terry Bishop, lives in a home in Academy District 20 with his wife, who is a D11 principal. Their home has an assessed value of $443,366. The Bishops also own a second home in Lewis Palmer District 38 with an assessed value of $283,480.
Deputy Superintendent for Instruction Mary Thurman also lives in D20 in a home valued at $595,244. Keep in mind that the academic performance of D11 has been anemic since Thurman has been in charge of instruction, but our tax dollars are providing her great comfort anyway, thank you.
Deputy Superintendent/Chief Financial Officer Glenn Gustafson lives in D20 in a home valued at $338,719. Gustafson is currently taking training to become a superintendent. Maybe this will boost his pay enough so that he can move further north with the Bishops.
How about head of contracting John Elliott? He was deeply involved in the D11 recall campaign, so he most certainly must live in D11. No, he lives in D20 in a home valued at $418,755. Maybe the recall was important to him because he understood that reform board members might expect competence from the district employees. That might have threatened his salary.
How about head of athletics Dave Eichman? Surely the athletics guy must be "one of us." Well, at least he lives in D11, over on the west side in a home valued at $467,837. Let's continue down the list of the D11 ruling class. Chuck Struck, Director of Fiscal Services, lives in Manitou D14 in a $337,567 home. Bill Bair, Director of Transportation, lives in D20 in a $250,980 home. Frank Bernhard, Executive Director of Facilities, lives in D20 in a $252,067 home. Mike Maloney, Director of Facilities, lives in D20 in a $226,085 home. Doug Burwell, manager of channel 16, lives in D38 in a $272,513 home. Dora Gonzales, D11 Math Chair, lives in a $343,472 west side home. Yes, she lives in D11. Her second house is also in the district. By the way, how are the math scores for that kind of money? John Keane, Director of Course Approval, owns 2 D20 homes, valued at $343,472 and $210,065. Robert Carubia, Director of Discipline, owns a $317,066 house in D38. Carolyn Gillespie, President of the Educational Support personnel in the district, lives in D11 in a $308,155 home. Marv Adams, EO representative, lives in Fountain D8 in a $311,792 home. Dennis Schultz, Executive Director for Information Services, lives in a $359,238 D20 home. Ray Caplinger, Director of Network services, lives in a $378,579 Ellicot D22 home. Joseph Morin, Print Shop manager, lives in a $299,624 home in D20. Louann Dekleva, Volunteer Services coordinator, lives in a $426,320 D38 home. George Noble, warehouse manager, lives in a $301,460 D20 home.
How about this one - Terry Bishop brought in Barbara Day from Arizona to be the site based management project manager. He is paying her $50,000 for this year on a "part time" contract. Prior to moving to Arizona, Day worked in neighboring Falcon D49, where she met then superintendent Mark Maksimowicz. They moved to Arizona together, but Day came back to be a "part time" project manager. First of all, nobody in D11 has any idea what the status of the site based project is. As project manager, one would think that Day would have a handle on the situation. While briefing the board at the last board meeting, Day was quite obviously at a loss to explain the status of the site based project. In fact, several schools were to be identified this week to pilot the site based program in the district beginning next year. To date, no schools have been identified. Keeping in mind that Day is supposedly being paid $50,000 to work part time (the average teacher salary in D11 is $45,000 for a 35 hour contract work week), Day and Maksimowicz bought a home in Monument together (just after the recall election) for $527,500. Both Day and Maksimowicz backed Bishop when he threw his hat in the ring to become the D49 superintendent 2 years ago. We can expect Day to receive a full time job in D11 next year for a six-figure salary, and we can probably expect to see Maksimowicz on the D11 payroll as a contractor or salaried employee about the same time.
What about poor ex-superintendent Sharon Thomas? How is she-who-was-picked-on by the meanie reformers living? She bought a house in D20 for $881,000 back in 1995, well before the D11 board liberals placed a $750,000 golden parachute into her contract. For the record, she has not returned any of the money from that parachute to the families of D11.
As for principals, at the middle school level, 5 of 9 principals live outside of D11, and at the high school level, 4 of 5 live outside of D11.
So what does all of this show? You will notice that your kids will never see the children of the D11 ruling class in their neighborhood schools. Most of them live in D20, or D38, or D12. While these aristocrats fight to keep you from using your own tax money on the school of your choice, they do not hesitate to use your tax money to send their kids to their schools of choice. Strangely, they rarely choose D11.
There is no law or policy that any D11 employee must live in the D11 boundaries. Only elected board members must live within D11 by state statute. The point is that these same D11 leaders who are living on the backs of the D11 tax payers, and who are fighting harder against parental choice than they are for academic excellence, are CHOOSING not to live in D11. While we are paying $500 million per year to allow these employees to live in nice homes in high performing school districts, they are using your money to lobby against your right to choose the best school for your child.
D11 board president John Gudvangen relishes his place among the elitists as well. He is sitting nicely in an Old North End home valued at $481,723. During a parent sounding board discussion a couple of years ago in front of ex-superintendent Norm Ridder, the topic of school choice came up. Gudvangen said that he opposed choice, and that those parents who are living in areas with under-performing schools "should have made better life choices for themselves and they would not have found themselves in this situation." In other words, those kids don't deserve any better than what they have. Gotta love that liberal compassion.
The American aristocracy is alive and well in D11.
*All home values collected from public records.
For obvious reasons related directly to quality, D11 administrators are adamantly opposed to parental choice. D11 administrators join their labor union allies in backing school board and legislative candidates who promise to fight any attempts by parents to choose a quality school for their children. Administrators are not brought into D11 based on their proficiency as educators; they are brought in based on who they know in the system who can get them a lucrative salary or contract with the district. The pot of taxpayer money that funds D11 is a large playground for the administration. The district takes nearly $500 million annually from the tax payers, but you will never find a cost analysis that demonstrates how these funds positively impact the education of our kids.
Surely the ruling class in D11 live among us and have a direct interest in the performance of our schools. Surely their kids are subject to the same education decisions that the rest of us have to endure. Surely the ruling class struggles with us to make ends meet, and surely they would not hesitate to educate their kids in Hunt, or Adams, or Mitchell, or any other D11 school. Surely you must be crazy if you believe any of that for a minute.
I have already listed on my blog the names of the 6-figure earners in D11. While most people are expected to demonstrate a certain level of proficiency when they earn their $40,000 salaries, these 6-figure earners have no such accountability measures, and they can continue to draw their salaries based on nothing more than a promise to do better next year. Where does the D11 ruling class live on the money that we, the tax payers, give to them each year?
The Superintendent of D11 schools, Terry Bishop, lives in a home in Academy District 20 with his wife, who is a D11 principal. Their home has an assessed value of $443,366. The Bishops also own a second home in Lewis Palmer District 38 with an assessed value of $283,480.
Deputy Superintendent for Instruction Mary Thurman also lives in D20 in a home valued at $595,244. Keep in mind that the academic performance of D11 has been anemic since Thurman has been in charge of instruction, but our tax dollars are providing her great comfort anyway, thank you.
Deputy Superintendent/Chief Financial Officer Glenn Gustafson lives in D20 in a home valued at $338,719. Gustafson is currently taking training to become a superintendent. Maybe this will boost his pay enough so that he can move further north with the Bishops.
How about head of contracting John Elliott? He was deeply involved in the D11 recall campaign, so he most certainly must live in D11. No, he lives in D20 in a home valued at $418,755. Maybe the recall was important to him because he understood that reform board members might expect competence from the district employees. That might have threatened his salary.
How about head of athletics Dave Eichman? Surely the athletics guy must be "one of us." Well, at least he lives in D11, over on the west side in a home valued at $467,837. Let's continue down the list of the D11 ruling class. Chuck Struck, Director of Fiscal Services, lives in Manitou D14 in a $337,567 home. Bill Bair, Director of Transportation, lives in D20 in a $250,980 home. Frank Bernhard, Executive Director of Facilities, lives in D20 in a $252,067 home. Mike Maloney, Director of Facilities, lives in D20 in a $226,085 home. Doug Burwell, manager of channel 16, lives in D38 in a $272,513 home. Dora Gonzales, D11 Math Chair, lives in a $343,472 west side home. Yes, she lives in D11. Her second house is also in the district. By the way, how are the math scores for that kind of money? John Keane, Director of Course Approval, owns 2 D20 homes, valued at $343,472 and $210,065. Robert Carubia, Director of Discipline, owns a $317,066 house in D38. Carolyn Gillespie, President of the Educational Support personnel in the district, lives in D11 in a $308,155 home. Marv Adams, EO representative, lives in Fountain D8 in a $311,792 home. Dennis Schultz, Executive Director for Information Services, lives in a $359,238 D20 home. Ray Caplinger, Director of Network services, lives in a $378,579 Ellicot D22 home. Joseph Morin, Print Shop manager, lives in a $299,624 home in D20. Louann Dekleva, Volunteer Services coordinator, lives in a $426,320 D38 home. George Noble, warehouse manager, lives in a $301,460 D20 home.
How about this one - Terry Bishop brought in Barbara Day from Arizona to be the site based management project manager. He is paying her $50,000 for this year on a "part time" contract. Prior to moving to Arizona, Day worked in neighboring Falcon D49, where she met then superintendent Mark Maksimowicz. They moved to Arizona together, but Day came back to be a "part time" project manager. First of all, nobody in D11 has any idea what the status of the site based project is. As project manager, one would think that Day would have a handle on the situation. While briefing the board at the last board meeting, Day was quite obviously at a loss to explain the status of the site based project. In fact, several schools were to be identified this week to pilot the site based program in the district beginning next year. To date, no schools have been identified. Keeping in mind that Day is supposedly being paid $50,000 to work part time (the average teacher salary in D11 is $45,000 for a 35 hour contract work week), Day and Maksimowicz bought a home in Monument together (just after the recall election) for $527,500. Both Day and Maksimowicz backed Bishop when he threw his hat in the ring to become the D49 superintendent 2 years ago. We can expect Day to receive a full time job in D11 next year for a six-figure salary, and we can probably expect to see Maksimowicz on the D11 payroll as a contractor or salaried employee about the same time.
What about poor ex-superintendent Sharon Thomas? How is she-who-was-picked-on by the meanie reformers living? She bought a house in D20 for $881,000 back in 1995, well before the D11 board liberals placed a $750,000 golden parachute into her contract. For the record, she has not returned any of the money from that parachute to the families of D11.
As for principals, at the middle school level, 5 of 9 principals live outside of D11, and at the high school level, 4 of 5 live outside of D11.
So what does all of this show? You will notice that your kids will never see the children of the D11 ruling class in their neighborhood schools. Most of them live in D20, or D38, or D12. While these aristocrats fight to keep you from using your own tax money on the school of your choice, they do not hesitate to use your tax money to send their kids to their schools of choice. Strangely, they rarely choose D11.
There is no law or policy that any D11 employee must live in the D11 boundaries. Only elected board members must live within D11 by state statute. The point is that these same D11 leaders who are living on the backs of the D11 tax payers, and who are fighting harder against parental choice than they are for academic excellence, are CHOOSING not to live in D11. While we are paying $500 million per year to allow these employees to live in nice homes in high performing school districts, they are using your money to lobby against your right to choose the best school for your child.
D11 board president John Gudvangen relishes his place among the elitists as well. He is sitting nicely in an Old North End home valued at $481,723. During a parent sounding board discussion a couple of years ago in front of ex-superintendent Norm Ridder, the topic of school choice came up. Gudvangen said that he opposed choice, and that those parents who are living in areas with under-performing schools "should have made better life choices for themselves and they would not have found themselves in this situation." In other words, those kids don't deserve any better than what they have. Gotta love that liberal compassion.
The American aristocracy is alive and well in D11.
*All home values collected from public records.
posted by Craig Cox | 11:35 AM
3 Comments:
This article is actually rather sickening. I don't mean that it is sickening that it was written, but rather sickening that these people live in their massive castles without having to concern themselves about whether or not they have been doing their jobs properly. Let's face it, even if they do come across a board that is serious about accountability, they will know that they can simply cross the street to another school district and they will be welcomed with open arms and another 6-figure paycheck.
When I decided to pull my child from D11, I knew that I would have to work hard and make sacrifices for my child. Sadly, these aristocrats, as you properly refer to them, neither have to work hard nor sacrifice to keep their extravagant lifestyles and quality education for their kids.
Let's do something novel in D11. Make every administrator send their kids to the lowest performing school in the district, and make every teacher who has children of school age send their kids to the school at which they teach. Maybe the need for improvement will suddenly be a reality to these people.
(make every teacher who has children of school age send their kids to the school at which they teach.)
Wow! That statement is ridiculous. Many teachers do have their kids at the schools they teach at. A classroom teacher can make the difference. Scores of tests may not show it, but teachers in this school district are putting in effort to make these students achieve. Remember these high stakes test are just that. We put pressure on our kids to pass a test. How many test have you taken lately? Does a test really show what your student knows? Just a thought. Give your student a test on something they are supposed to know about and pressure them. See how well they do.
Is Robert's suggestion really ridiculous? If some teachers already do have their kids at the school at which they teach, why is it ridiculous? I am not exactly sure what you mean when you say that "a classroom teacher can make the difference" as it relates to the issue of children attending the school at which their parents teach. When you say that test scores really don't mean anything as it relates to student learning, does that also apply to D20 or D12, or just to low performing districts?
Of course tests show what students know. How else do you measure progress? Tests have been around forever, and my kids do take CSAP and they do well. I am not sure why pressure is necessarily a bad thing. I don't know your age, but when I was going through school, we took the Iowa Test of Basic Skills each year. I took the ACT and the SAT. Back when I was in school, every test we took throughout the year mattered because if we received failing grades, we did not move onto the next grade as kids do in D11. I imagine that you had a similar experience.
Go beyond test scores and we all see that high school graduates cannot perform simple math operations and they can't spell or write logical papers. Maybe if they had been pressured to perform in school, they would not be in that position.
I have been tested constantly all my adult life. Both the military and law enforcement have required me to test constantly, both in written and performance tests. Proficiency is important when you are performing important jobs, teaching included. I am not opposed to proficiency tests in that profession either.
Thank you for your feedback.
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