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By Janet Evans
Monday, Jul 28 2008, 09:09 PM
I attended the Franklin School Board meeting last Wednesday, 7/23/08. I have already mentioned that during citizen comment period I brought forth the fact that New Berlin School Board meetings are being webcast and that it would be nice for our district to look into something like this. I also commented on the following Board Goal:
Revisit Budget Process
Franklin residents expect that the school district will provide a quality education for all of its students. They also expect that the board and the district will be good stewards of the tax dollar. Many residents are concerned about the rising tax rate and expect the district to address their concerns. The board wants to take a new approach towards budgeting. It expects the administration to explore strategic abandonment of programs and budgeted items that are no longer needed. The district must look for cost savings in all areas, but place student achievement as the number one priority for new expenditures. The board wants to have more discussions of the budget and seek community input on what non-mandated elements of the budget it will support. Budget documents must be user-friendly and presentations must be understandable to the taxpayer.
At the last Board Meeting, Linda Witkowski had been trying to bring forth some suggestions to improve budget documents for citizens, and she was repeatedly shot down. The last line of the Goal is exactly what Linda Witkowski was attempting to do. Also, nowhere in the Budget Draft does it clearly state that the proposed Tax Levy is 3.9%. The last page of the draft has it broken down over a three year period. But it is not clearly stated for the citizens what the proposed property tax levy will be…which is the main issue the taxpayers want to know. They shouldn’t have to calculate it…just state it.
On August 6th there will be a Committee of the Whole meeting where a review of Board Goals will take place. It was mentioned that proposed new Goals may be discussed. Have the current Goals really been met? Perhaps you will want to review the Goals and decide for yourself. I believe there sure have been improvements. But I think there is still work to be done. And if new Goals are going to be added…I wouldn’t add more than one until the other Goals are better achieved.
I have two highlights of the meeting for you in Podcasts. The first is the announcement and discussion of the 2008 Annual Meeting of the Electors. You will hear discussion from Dr. Patz, Mary Karolewicz, Dave Szychlinski , Linda Witkowski, Jim Milzer, and David Works. Please note that the burst of laughter you hear before Jim Milzer speaks is because as Linda Witkowski asks a question, Jim Milzer just left the area to go into a room to fix a microphone, and the question she asked was directed toward him.
The second recording is a discussion regarding the awarding of a grant for our Alternative Education Program. Paulette Kroll, Director of Pupil Services will speak about this, and you will also hear Dr. Patz. David Works, Linda Witkowski. Congratulations on applying and obtaining this Grant.
Listen to the Podcasts HERE
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By Janet Evans
Friday, Jun 27 2008, 06:36 PM
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Update 2
It looks like pressure from the Bloggers, the Civic Celebration committee, the community and students have done the job. School Board member David Works just told me that he spoke to Dr. Patz and he is working on releasing the instruments to the Drum Major so any students who would like to participate in the parade will be allowed to do so. Let's hope everything works out and that there are enough students around to have a good enough showing.
Also, Greg Kowalski informed me that Mr. Cady called Jeanine Olson from the Civic Celebrations Committee and told her the Band Director Scott Julius agreed to help coordinate the parade. I also received an email from Mr. Cady verifying this, I asked if Mr. Julius is being compensated for his leadership of the Band, and was told he was. Mr. Cady also had this to say:
I do want to say that our school does really value our community and we do understand
and respect that our community has an expectation that the school gives
back. The band has performed for community events on numerous occasions
such as performing at fund raisers for the cultural center, providing
entertainment for hundreds of our seniors each spring when we host a
dinner and first viewing of our musical and our students complete
hundreds of hours of community service every year. It is important that
we do these things, we know that and will continue to strive to improve
our efforts in this area.
An interesting turn of events.
We'll remember this quote from Dave Szychlinski for next year:
“I spoke with Dr. Patz this morning and he
promised me that no matter happens this year, we will handle this
differently in the future so this never happens again.”
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Update 1
This has nothing to do with a referendum.
I talked to the United Music Parent's President (UMPS), Rhonda Gross, this morning.
Last year the parade was run by the student Drum Major. She said there may not even be enough students available right now. This happened a month ago. The volunteers were in charge in the past.
Contracts are still in negotiations for some of the teachers right now. You can bet it will be discussed for a band teacher to participate in the parade. The School District does care about the Community. They've gotten off easy all these years because they have had a strong parent group like UMPS. Also, being that it's late...kids make plans when it gets late. They don't wait around. There aren't 300 kids sitting home waiting to march knowing that they don't have a leader. You would think the new Band Director could have stepped up, but no, he didn't have a contract. Obviously he wanted to get paid. He could be out of town too. Who knows. The UMPS President says he's good with the students.
Not everything revolves around a referendum.
It has been said to our faces at the meetings it will be a while before there is a referendum.
Do we have a date yet?
No.
They need to get land first.
The band isn't playing because many people screwed up.
Period.
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Don’t see anything but an empty space?
That’s because as of this posting there will be no Franklin High School Marching Band in the parade.
And don’t hold your breath for one either.
Franklin blogger, Greg Kowalski brought up this issue last night on his Metro Milwaukee Today blog.
I looked into it a little further today to clarify the issue.
Tanya Ruder, District Communications Specialist reports that:
“We have had some very generous parents and students who have dedicated
their time in the past to organize the band for the parade. This has
never been a school or district organized event. This year there was no
outside person or group that worked on organizing the band. The Civic
Celebration Planning Committee was notified that the band would not be
participating approximately a month ago.
While the district is well aware that the community supports the band
and would like to have them participating, the time frame for this year
is now too short to prepare them for the event. We are going to work on
having the appropriate staff for the parade next year that can work with
available students to perform in the parade. This not only ensures that
the band will be present, but they will also be well rehearsed.
We appreciate all of the support that our community shows for the
Franklin High School Band and we look forward to participating in the
parade next year.”
Dave Szychlinski, School Board President says:
“I spoke with Dr. Patz this morning and he
promised me that no matter happens this year, we will handle this
differently in the future so this never happens again.”
I find the Civic Celebration Planning Committee at fault also. If they knew about this a month ago, as stated, they could have tried to find a band from another area to participate. Hales Corners has their parade late in the afternoon. Perhaps Whitnall's band might have played in our parade. It’s just a thought…you never know. It’s just that, a parade needs at least one band.
My main gripe is that, if this was made public perhaps a community volunteer with music experience, and I know there are some of you out there, might have stepped forward and volunteered a few hours with these students to practice a couple songs for the parade and marched with them on July 4th….for free! Does money always have to be an issue here? Does a contract for a teacher have to come into play? Can a teacher volunteer their services for a few hours in the summer?
Go ahead....criticize me for bringing that up. But I sit at School Board meetings for hours and I don’t have children in school. I can battle anyone about volunteering if you want….I have many, many years of it behind me.So, Franklin citizens…enjoy the parade…
Perhaps we will have to resort to this...
"Ingenuity at its best is seen with the creation of Willimantic’s Boom Box Parade. In 1986, no marching band could be found for Memorial Day. Five weeks later, the “Boom Box Parade” concept was born, where the local radio station, WILI, plays the marching band music on the air, and thousands of parade goers loudly play their radios (boom boxes). Anyone can march in this one-of-a-kind people’s parade. The only requirements are to wear some red, white and blue and bring a radio tuned to WILI (1400AM). American flags are optional but encouraged. There is no “official” theme for the parade. Past parade marchers have included the “Traveling Fish Head Club of Northeastern Connecticut”, which in 2003 had a “herring town” entry and in 2001 had a tribute to the Frog Bridge. Grand Marshal Wayne Norman, a WILI personality, always leads the parade."
The Boom Box Parade - July 4th Celebration
But we can call it the Boomgaard Box Parade...
That's the way things in Franklin are going lately....
Happy 4th of July
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By Janet Evans
Thursday, Jun 26 2008, 07:14 AM
Residents of Franklin, I don’t know where to begin…
Last night I attended the June 25th regular School Board meeting. I only have three things to cover. Two of them will be quick.
First, important…but it was breezed over. The Budget Draft, in its current form, was approved. Jeff Traylor, Finance Committee Chairperson, was not present, and there was no report.
Next, I’m jumping ahead to the July 4th parade….
The Board will be participating in the parade and handing out ice cream afterwords. They will also be having an “Are you smarter than a 5th grader? contest on July 4th from 2-4 p.m. in a tent at the celebration.
I applaud the Board for their effort in participating in the Civic Celebration.
Now this….
I have to say I was stunned…just stunned at what transpired at the Board meeting.
First I’ll fill you in and then you can read my transcript (which will be missing a few words do to crosstalk).
Dr. Patz offered the Board information that he received a phone call from a “Developer.” The name of the Developer is never stated. Although, I believe it was mentioned once late in the conversation by one Board member, but it was during crosstalk, so it can’t be verified.
The Developer is assumed (by me as I attend Common Council meetings) to either be Greg Devorkin or David Hintzman. Both have had their hands in the Sendik’s on Rawson.
More from me after you read the transcript:
Dr. Patz:
I received a phone call about a week ago from a Developer in the area. He’s got some affiliation, I believe at the current time with part of the development of the Sendik’s on Rawson, and his request was to have the School District write a letter to the City in terms of promoting and endorsing Economic Development. He had apparently had some involvement with the City in his project and it went one direction, and another direction, and so on. But I would seek the Boards direction to ask if you wanted to be involved. It wouldn’t be on behalf of the Developer, per se. It would be a general letter supporting Economic Development.
David Works:
I think it’s a good idea. I think we should do it.
Mary Karolewicz:
Well it would be located obviously in our District. As you know the city’s 70/30 goal of Economic Development and in relation to Residential Development hasn’t been completed yet or reached. It is a while before that will occur because obviously the city is still growing. But it is within our School District’s boundaries; it would help to alleviate some of the tax burden on our residents by sharing it a little bit so I guess I would go along with what Dave said.
Dr. Ward:
It wasn’t clear, was this Business Development?
Dr. Patz: Yes, yes.
Dave Szychlinski:
So are you asking the Board to give the authority to write a letter, not in support of a specific project but in support of Economic Development?
Dr. Patz:
Right that was the request, from this Developer, not particularly on his behalf, but on behalf of Economic Development.
Dave Szychlinski:
I think it’s harmless to send such a letter, and I think the City Council and the Mayor certainly know that we support anything that can be done to even out the tax base but I would be resistant of trying to support any specific project because we don’t have any knowledge or the details of that project but if you feel it is important to send a letter accordingly, then I think you have the consensus of this group to go forward with that.
Dr. Ward:
I guess my only comment would be to make sure the Developer talks about the development in our district because there’s a lot of development in Franklin that’s not in our district. So we would certainly not want to support something that would […] our tax.
Dave Szychlinski:
But having said that. All development in Franklin is good. Yes, we would prefer for it to be in Franklin’s School District […].
Dr. Patz:
I believe it was his opinion that because he was denied some of the things he was putting forward that I believe he felt that he was getting the signal that weren’t concerned with Economic Development for School Projects […] His perception is that Franklin doesn’t want a certain amount of developments to occur in Franklin […]
Dave Szychlinski:
Very interesting question…I’m not sure how his project didn’t get approved. [...]
Mary Karolewicz:
I think a lot of development has gone on along the fringes of Franklin and there have been some consummated general I think overall the city is working at their master plan and the plan commission is looking very hard to generate the right type of development , but it stalls sometimes.
Dave Szychlinski:
Well, having served for a year on the Plan Commission with Mr. Ritter, here’s my observation and the City welcomes development and the City doesn’t channel people into the School District or not into the District, people want to develop where they want to develop. And if parcels of land are…they don’t pay much attention to where the School District boundaries are drawn.
Mary Karolewicz:
And I’m not saying that.
Linda Witkowski:
Do we have meetings with the City?
Dave Szychlinski:
Well, we have that, we have that. I’ve talked to the Mayor about it. I’ve met with him. That’s why it’s an interesting request because the City’s aware of the fact that the School District would like to see more development. […] So I’m not sure this letter is really going to help anything, but if you feel the need to want to do it.
Dr. Patz:
Not a need…I’m just bringing forth this gentleman’s request and certainly we can communicate it personally to the city in the same manner. It’s just not going to be personal to any developer
Dr. Ward:
I’m just not sure...I just don’t think we should talk about a specific project. He would have the opportunity to say to City Official’s , “See the School District approved this Development why don’t you approve it.”
Dr. Patz:
You might want to have a conversation with the Mayor and see if he thinks legal council might be helpful.
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Why the anonymity? At a public meeting...speaking to the Board ...about a request from a Developer. Why is it the name of the Developer could not be said aloud? Why must a records request be done in order to get the Developer's name...even though I know it is either Hintzman or Devorkin?
What is going on with the Board? First, they don't really have a clue as to what is going on in the City in regards to Hintzman and Devorkin; or with Dairy Queen, or with the Fountains of Franklin or with Mayor Taylor and the Plan Commission ....that was evident. Only Mary Karolewicz comes to some of the Common Council meetings...and she got off topic regarding the request for the letter.
Dave Szychlinski told me at a past meeting he had no intention of having meetings jointly with the city unless there was something specific to discuss. All of a sudden he's been having meetings? What's up with that? Is that the Mayor's doing? Development meetings with the Board President all of a sudden. Are they official meetings or just coffee meetings at 5-Star? Because, if all of a sudden we are going to be having meetings...I am wondering why we can't have a public meeting...how about just one? One public meeting between the Common Council and the School Board.
A request from the "Developer?" Not from the common Council or the Mayor? If Developer [insert name here] is making this request rather than the Mayor or the Common Council, isn't that a red flag right there? Doesn't that say that Developer [insert name here] has an agenda? Doesn' t our School Board have more pressing issues at hand (a budget shortfall) than dealing with the City politics of Developer [insert name here]?
Dr. Jim Ward and Linda Witkowski at least had a panicked, quizzical look on their faces and at least attempted to question what the heck was going on.
I tell you, if the School Board wants to show the City or the Community that the are pro-Economic Development....(which we already know they are anyway...the question does not even need to be asked) there is a simple solution....
Don't make Franklin a living Tax Hell!
Because of this incident...
and a couple coconuts ....
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By Janet Evans
Monday, Jun 16 2008, 04:15 PM
Today I received a response from Mr. Jim Milzer regarding the questions and concerns (below) from a Franklin citizen that were brought up after the Committee of the Whole Meeting on June 4th.
I was not told who addressed specific questions/concerns.
The response is in .pdf format:
Response to Unidentified Citizen ç here
06/17/08
Response from From Unidentified Citizen:
I'm satisfied with the answers. I have no "axe to grind" with our district. I appreciate the response, and the time taken to explain.
Unidentified Citizen
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I received an email from a Franklin citizen who was in attendance at the Committee of the Whole meeting of the Franklin School Board, on June 4th. The individual does not feel comfortable contacting the Board members directly, for personal reasons, but would like answers to the following questions, and would also like to share these concerns.
I am posting the questions from the email, with permission, as I think they are interesting, along with forwarding them to the Board, Dr. Patz, Judy Mueller and Mr. Milzer. Hopefully the questions will get answered.
Here is a link to my report on the meeting, which has a link to the 1st draft of the 08-09 budget:
Franklin School Board 06-04-08 Committee of the Whole Meeting
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Email Questions/Concerns from Citizen Regarding 08-09 Budget:
I was very pleased with the school board asking to see the FTE posted next
to the staffing projections. I too am interested in those numbers.
I am also interested in why I was told at the meeting that no teachers had
been laid off. Tacked onto that statement was a comment that some hours in
art and music had been cut. According to the numbers quoted that would have
been .1 FTE. 1/10th of a position.
When I talked to representatives in those departments - they told me that
two part time teachers had been laid off, and that the total of the two
would have been around 1 FTE not .1. So I am interested in this discrepancy.
I am more interested in accuracy of the presentation than the bad news. I
want finance representatives who aren't going to gloss over a situation.
I also would like to know what areas were considered for strategic
abandonment and what the general strategy or order was. Were staffing
positions considered first because they are the largest budget area? Or were
teachers considered last due to student impact? Exactly what were the
underlying principles used to come to decisions.
Were all budget areas considered? And by that I don't mean "yes, staffing was
considered". I would like to know if all areas of staffing were considered.
I have heard that our district is top-heavy. I've heard it from a lot of
different sources, and there are things I see volunteering that support the
concept of too many chiefs, too few Indians. However, I am not overly
familiar with the structure at a district level. So I started researching.
A quick perusal of our own staff directory on the website shows that 34 out
of 393 employees work at ECC. 1 in 10 didn't strike me as a good number, but
I don't know what those people do, so I started comparing our numbers to
other numbers on the DPI website.
We have 1 administrator for every 246 students.
Greenfield has 1/264
Greendale has 1/208
MPS has 1/178
Oak Creek - Franklin has 1/301
The numbers say that we aren't really top heavy. Or, more likely, if we are,
so is the rest of the system. It also shows that there are school districts
out there who are similar in size that have fewer administrative positions.
Have we researched what districts like Oak Creek Franklin and Glendale
-River Hills, and South Milwaukee are doing to maintain a better
administrative ratio?
It might be expedient for a corresponding cut in administrative FTE to
balance that out cuts in teacher’s hours. Certainly a decreasing staff and
student body means that there is a corresponding decrease in administrative
duties somewhere along the line. That means if we cut 5 positions from our
teaching staff we should be looking to eliminate a part time position at the
district level. If nothing else even a few hours trimmed from the
administrative budget might go a long way in paving the way for better
teacher relations. If we are willing to reposition our teachers and assign
them new duties, maybe we need to consider that at the top too.
I do believe good administration is worth keeping and paying. Good
administration will also have the respect of those who work under them.
My suggestions/comments on the budget meeting:
1. An impact report on proposed budgetary cuts would be helpful. This report
should have an emphasis on what this will mean to the student population.
For instance, we were able to cut three elementary positions due to a
decrease in student populations. Thankfully, we were told that no one was
laid off. Yet there are other costs to the student in reorganization. This
might mean some large classes. It might mean teachers who are teaching new
grade-levels and curriculum. I fully understand that you do the best that
you can, but I also realize that there is more than one way to arrange what
gets cut, that different people are going to have different ideas on what is
important.
2. There was no mention at the meeting that administrative or support
positions had been looked at alongside of teaching staff for budget cuts. I
certainly hope that these were considered, but I have no real assurances
that they were
3. I was very happy to see the budget posted to the website. It is good to
see that the school board is trying to improve its relationship with the
community. Something to consider. When I get an e-mail inviting me to a
meeting on the day of that meeting, I start to wonder what is being covered
that someone wants to push through with little comment. A week in advance
for those notices would be much more appropriate.
4. I really would like a clear answer on how many teachers have been laid
off and what programs are affected. I am hoping to understand why I am
getting two different numbers from the teachers and from the district.
5. Mr. Milzer mentioned that out-sourcing payroll wouldn’t be a good idea due to loss in corporate knowledge in that area. I would love to see the same argument applied to moving our teachers around to fill different positions.
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By Janet Evans
Monday, Jun 2 2008, 06:50 AM
I read the following regarding Whitnall’s 9.3% approval of a preliminary property tax levy hike with great interest:
“District Business Manager Amy Kohl said the state Department of Public Instruction is allowing the district to "tax to the max" to compensate for the loss of equalization aid, but that aid figure may well increase by the annual meeting. More aid would mean a corresponding lowering of the levy.”
It started me thinking about the news message I’ve had posted on my side bar for over a week regarding our own School Board and the meeting coming up where we, the citizens, are invited to give input regarding a first draft of the 2008-09 budget.
Now, I think it’s great that we are invited to see this draft and give input. I hope there will be a crowd of not just people listening, but of citizens with some ideas. I know for a fact that the School District did ask the Administration to seek ways to cut corners. They actually sought input internally. This is a good thing. On the other hand, I’m not naive. I think in order for citizen input to make a difference in what we will be shown, it is going to have to be something powerful.
You see, some things are still echoing in the back of my mind. For instance, the April 2 Board Budget meeting I attended where the previous Board spoke out and said they should “levy to the cap” and “take the levy limit to the max.” Or my blog back in March where I mentioned I first learned about the State budget shortfall.
So, if DPI is allowing the districts to “tax to the max,” and our own district had that attitude back in April, I’m thinking they are probably going to follow through with that plan. But....
There are two new Board members since that April 2nd meeting. Have those new Board members been given a chance to have any input so early in the game? Also, the District most likely did make some budget cuts. The first place they would make larger cuts would have been in staff. As I noted before, the Board is making some small, positive steps. This Committee of the Whole, asking for our input, is another good step forward.
If you don’t have any suggestions, I hope you will at least come and give your view to the Board regarding their proposed budget. It isn’t often they ask your opinion. We've entrusted millions of dollars into the hands of this Board along with thousands of our children. It seems lately that elected officials believe that if they don't hear form you, that everything is going along just fine; that there are no complaints. So, if no one shows up to this meeting, maybe they will all have smiles on their faces and back pats the next time they get together behind closed doors. And why shouldn't they?
I just don’t think at the end of Wednesday night, the Franklin School Board should be able to press that button and hear, “That was easy!”
Staples®
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The Franklin Public Schools Board of Education will be meeting with the Director of Business Services on Wednesday, June 4 at 6:00 p.m. at the Education and Community Center to review the first draft of the 2008/09 budget during a Committee of the Whole meeting. Please come prepared to share your thoughts and ideas about the initial plan that will be presented.
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By Janet Evans
Thursday, Apr 10 2008, 06:15 AM
I attended the Personnel & Policy Committee Meeting and the Finance Committee Meetings of the Franklin School Board last evening at the ECC.
Items on the Agenda for Personnel & Policy Committee were:
Waiver of Early Admission to Kindergarten or First Grade
Facility Use Policy
English as a Second Language Program & Enrollment Presentation
2008-09 Preliminary FTE Staffing
Commitment to Excellence Award - Recommendations for April
Kimberly Davitz - 5th Gr. Teacher Southwood Glen,
Kathy Largin-Ringkjob, Speech & Language Pathologist Ben Franklin,
Janet Vlasaty-Smith,5th Gr. Teacher Country Dale.
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Of main interest were fee changes that are proposed to be made to the Facility Use Policy regarding Non-Local and For-Profit Groups & Events using our facilities. They will now be responsible for facility use charges that Local Not-for-Profit Groups would not be charged.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The English as a Second Language (ESL) Program showed that we currently have 278 students involved in the program, with the majority of the students in the elementary schools. It is an "in the mainstream-classroom" program. It is not a Bi-lingual program. The teachers do not know or use the foreign languages of the students.
Franklin Public Schools is currently meeting the No Child Left Behind Goals regarding the ESL Program, although there appear to be areas in the High School that need to be looked at due to the small amount of students in the program.
Our greatest population of students needing English Language Learner (ELL) in Franklin is that of the Hmong language (64), followed by Arabic (50), Spanish (37), Punjabi (18), Hindi (13), Serbian (13), and 19 other languages to follow.
We currently have five (5) ELL teachers, one (1) 20 hr. a week interpreter and one (1) full-time Hmong interpreter.
The program is requesting the addition of one +.5 ESL teacher for next year.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Staffing Recommendations for 2008-09
Projected Enrollment 3,943
65 Open Enrollment & Chapter 220
50 Projected additional K-5 enrollments
______
4,058 Estimated Enrollment for SY 2008-09
It is projected that the Elementary level will lose 3.6 FTE (Full time equivalent)
It is projected Forest Park will lose 1.0 FTE (Special Education teacher)
It is projected the High School will lose 2.10 FTE (retirement, P.E./Health 1/4, efficiency in sectioning math,
stacking computer class)
For a total Loss of 6.7 FTE
and a projected gain of +.5 FTE (ESL Program at High School)
There was some banter regarding interns" and student teachers. Ben Franklin uses two interns and I believe Country Dale will have one. That means a larger class size with an intern (basically an unlicensed teacher) helping out the teacher for part of the day, if I understand this correctly - I heard the term "split classes" when referring to interns. An intern is paid $4,000 per semester, where a student teacher is unpaid and is mentored by the teacher. An intern does not need to be monitored by the teacher, as a student teacher would need to be.
David Works, in the audience, questioned the use of interns. He believes there will be objections from parents.
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Hmmm....Of all the places to cut costs....I'm going to think back as a parent of an elementary student. First, I remember the "long-term subs," that was always nice. Total waste of time. Time lost. Nothing gained. That's usually the "maternity/parent leave" teacher scenario. And now we want to throw in the unlicensed "intern." Now an intern in the classroom all day helping out a teacher is one thing...but if you have an intern half of the day in place of your teacher.... That's not quite what I thought my tax dollars were going for. How about an "Intern" Administrator? I might go for THAT for $4,000 a semester.
Three interns...we're saving a big chunk of change here, with salary and benefits and all. I realize that. But, the children are supposed to come first. So, how about freezing Administrator's salaries? What's a Human Resources Assistant? Is that a Secretary or does our Director of Human Resources really need an assistant? It doesn't look like we're doing much hiring for this coming year. How about some multi-tasking to a Confidential Secretary?
And it is a huge mistake to drop the Health class in Grade 9. I know it isn't required by the State. But remember...Wisconsin ranks number 1 in the nation for alcohol abuse for students. And depending on how the numbers are manipulated, we rank between number 11 and 14 for suicide deaths of high schools students in the nation. Our students need to discuss social/sexual, physical and mental health issues as often as possible.
On to the next meeting....
The Finance Committee, which reported on the Audit Results dated 06-30-07
The Audit appeared to have gone well with the following items needing attention:
Regarding Personnel Files
Random personnel files were pulled and it was found that required "background checks" were not in all files. It was explained to the Board by Director of Human Resources, Judy Mueller, that the files that did not have those background checks in them were files that were over 15 years old, which were prior to the time background checks were being done. Background checks are being done and have been done for the past 15 years and are now in the newer files.
The Business Office needs to keep a tight control over student activity funds at the schools and do their own internal audits of those funds. It was found that at some times receipts were not issued to people bringing in money.
The Board should have a Conflict of Interest policy in place.
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On a final note I would like to thank Karen Zaluca, Director Instructional Services for being kind enough to give me hand-outs. I'm a pretty regular visitor at the meetings and I should think it would be a regular practice to have a few extra hand-outs in the first place. Ms. Zaluca has been especially gracious to me.
And finally, there was no mention of former Superintendent Dr. Bill Szakacs and the debacle surrounding him. But we didn't expect there would be, did we?
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Don't forget to attend the Be Heard! Meeting tonight at 6:00 at Ben Franklin, if you can.
I will not be able to attend, so unless one of the other bloggers does a post....if any reader does attend, feel free to leave comments about it on this post.
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By Janet Evans
Wednesday, Apr 2 2008, 08:00 PM
I attended the Committee of the Whole School Board Meeting tonight at the ECC. The topic of discussion was the budget.
First, was the discussion of the Board Goal regarding “zero based’ budgeting. If you’ll recall, I mentioned in my report back in February that Jim Milzer concluded it is not feasible for a school district to attain zero-based budgeting because you have to start at “zero.”
A school district isn’t in the position to do that. They don't have any money to move around. The Board should not have written the Goal with that term in it. If they didn't change the wording it could "leave the Board looking bad." Therefore, they will be striking the word “zero-based” from the Goal, and rewriting the Goal.
Linda Witkowski and David Works attended the meeting tonight, and were in the audience. Mary Karolewicz brought up that Linda had once mentioned Performance Budgeting at a past meeting, and they should look into that.
At any rate, zero-based budgeting will not be used.
Here is the original Goal:
Revisit Budget Process
Franklin residents expect that the school district will provide a quality education for all of its students. They also expect that the board and the district will be good stewards of the tax dollar. Many residents are concerned about the rising tax rate and expect the district to address their concerns. The board wants to take a new approach towards budgeting. It expects the administration to follow ‘zero-based’ budgeting methods and explore strategic abandonment of programs and budgeted items that are no longer needed. The district must look for cost savings in all areas, but place student achievement as the number one priority for new expenditures. The board wants to have more discussions of the budget and seek community input on what non-mandated elements of the budget it will support. Budget documents must be user-friendly and presentations must be understandable to the taxpayer.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Next was a discussion basically regarding the fact that hard times are ahead of us and what can be done before the Annual Meeting regarding communication and input with the public so they understand the Budget. I took notes..but here is the very short version of it all, as it was mostly repetitive:
A. There are most likely going to be cuts somewhere. Are they going to be in Programs? Staff?
They are going to look at cutting small things first.
B. The Board is and has been asking current staff for input on where corners can be cut.
Jim Milzer said he would be looking to cut $500,000 from the budget next year.
Usually transportation is the first place to look. Then technology.
It was pretty consistent with the Board that they will “levy to the cap” or “take the levy limit to the max.”
Here’s one you’ll like: Sue Huhn…”We can’t make any promises that taxes will not go up in the future.”
Randy Ritter, in the audience, did impress me tonight by speaking up and challenging the thought process on the issue of levying to the cap.
And my thoughts?…
The “current Board” is going to go for as much money as they can suck out of the taxpayer in the name of the children.
But that's my view.
I suggest you attend the next budget/finance meeting and see for yourself - April 9th (Finance Committee Mtg)
And, not once in the discussions of where could possible cuts be made, did I EVER hear any reference to freezing salaries of Administrators. Not once.
In my opinion, just once, I would like to see a sacrifice made on the part of those at the top.
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By Janet Evans
Thursday, Mar 20 2008, 07:15 PM
Last night I attended the School Board Forum at Franklin High School.
I thought the candidates did a good job answering questions put to them by the sponsors of the event, and those directly from the audience.
Some were textbook questions with textbook answers; issues already covered from the interviews I had done with the candidates. Other questions were fresh.
I wasn’t planning on commenting on this forum until after the next one, on Monday, March 24th. But, one question came up last night that has me thinking. A member of the audience asked a question of the candidates, and all but one of them didn’t have any insight on the topic. It was an issue that in my opinion, is a very hot topic regarding curriculum in schools, and has been for quite some time.
In fairness, I don’t expect a School Board candidate to know all of the answers. They aren’t in the position yet. Once elected, there is much they will need to learn. I just think this topic is one that, regarding your own child’s education, you, as a parent, would have an opinion in general.
A member of the audience asked the candidates if they would be in support of Intelligent Design being introduced into the Science curriculum. Candidates Dennis Butler, Linda Witkowski, and David Works were not familiar with the term Intelligent Design. After a brief explanation, Butler said he would most likely be in favor of it, if the District would be able to get past legal hurdles. Witkowski, appeared to be in favor, but was questionable of it at this time, and Works would be in favor of it if it was called for. Again, in fairness, I wouldn’t take their answers to heart, as I think they would need to delve further into the meaning of Intelligent Design themselves before giving a concrete answer.
Ed Holpfer was familiar with Intelligent Design and said, personally yes, he would be in favor of it in the science curriculum, but as far as introducing it into our District, it would depend on what the community as a whole would want.
Because the candidates were not familiar with this term doesn’t change my opinion of them. I was just surprised and it makes me think there are many citizens not aware of the possibilities of what may or may not be taught in school.
I blogged about Intelligent Design back in the beginning of December.
Perhaps if the Candidates are looking at the blogs today, this segment may help them to get started on forming an opinion.
Intelligent Design? í here
My School Board Candidate Interviews í here
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By Janet Evans
Saturday, Mar 15 2008, 04:35 PM
On March 3rd I posted this regarding our school district, the Board, and budgets.
I also emailed School Board President, Dave Szychlinski, links to the two articles in the post, asking him if he was aware of them.
This is what he said:
----- Original Message -----
From: "Dave Szychlinski" <szychlid@franklin.k12.wi.us>
To: <Janet Evans>
Sent: Friday, March 07, 2008 9:16 PM
Subject: Re: School Board Conference
Thanks for sharing this Janet. I've seen this and other reports like
this one. I am encouraging the Board's Finance Committee and
administration to revise our budget process to include priority setting,
an examination of mandates, and to include more public discussion of the
budget drafts. We have to take a good hard look at our budgets no
matter what economic conditions we face.
dave
>>>> "Janet Evans" > 03/07/08 8:10 PM >>>
Dave,
Welcome back.
Thank you for your reply.
Have you seen this?
http://www.eschoolnews.com/news/top-news/?i=52396
or this
http://www.cbpp.org/1-15-08sfp.htm
Not good news.
Janet
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Well, Dave Szychlinski didn't seem too concerned.
At the School Board meeting on February 20th, Business Manager, Jim Milzer reported about the refinancing that would occur for the District, saving well over $766,000 in the tax levy next year.
The Board was glowing.
So, things must be going pretty well, right?
Not so fast....
Friday, when I got my mail, I opened an envelope and found a 2007/2008 School Board Calendar with several upcoming meetings highlighted:
Wednesday, April 2nd....Committee of the Whole - Topic: Budget
Wednesday, April 9th....Finance
Wednesday, May 21st...Finance
Wednesday, June 4....Committee of the Whole - Topic: Budget
Wednesday, June 11th....Finance
Wednesday, August 27th....Annual meeting of the Electors
Along with that calendar, was a Franklin High School Weekly Staff Bulletin, dated March 10-15.
It has a cover letter with it that is sent out to High School Staff, from Principal Mike Cady.
It is dated Tuesday, March 11th.
On the actual Bulletin, one paragraph is highlighted.
There was no return address on the envelope.
It is obvious it came from someone at Franklin High School.
Someone who wants me to be aware of the paragraph that was highlighted.
My guess is that it is a teacher or clerical staff.
Here is the paragraph:
FYI: as I have alluded to before, we are in a situation as a district in which we have had a dip in enrollment and are in a budget cutting mode for next year. I will share more details on this issue as they become available.
Interesting!
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Dave Szychlinski stated in his email to me that he is encouraging the Finance Committee to include more public discussion.
Now might be a good time.
We seem to have some budget problems that no one has discussed out in the open yet.
And I thought part of the new Goals was to communicate better with Franklin citizens.
I thought I was attending the regular School Board meetings.....I write practically every word down.
Dip in enrollment?
Budget cutting mode?
I know my hearing is pretty good.
Those new School Board candidates are a very important choice we have to make, aren't they?
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
To the staff member who sent me this packet.....
Thank you for sending me this information.
I would prefer to know who you are.
I'd prefer to know your motive in sending me this information.
Worried about your job and want the public to be aware?
Just a concerned citizen?
My email is right at the top of this post.
Remember, I kept Scott Bauer's information confidential.
I'll do the same with yours.
My only other comment about that is, you don't see much of school staff at School Board meetings unless their jobs are going to get cut...why is that?
Hopefully I'll be hearing more from you via email, or possibly you can introduce yourself to me at the School Board candidate forum on the 19th.
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By Janet Evans
Tuesday, Mar 11 2008, 11:50 AM
It was announced last week that there is a candidate forum for Mayor, Aldermanic seats for 3rd and 4th Districts and School Board candidates on March 24th, at the Franklin Public Library at 6:30 p.m.
If you can’t make that one, and are interested in School Board candidates only, there is another forum planned for next week.
One glitch regarding this forum is that it is scheduled on the same evening as the regular School Board meeting (6:30 p.m.). This just shows that teachers (Franklin Education Association) and Educational Support Professionals (FESPA) don't attend regular School Board meetings.
I guess I'll have to make a choice between the two for the first hour....
_________________________________
School Board Candidate Forum
Wednesday - March 19, 2008 - 7:00 PM to 9:00 PM
Join the Franklin school PTO and PTA groups, Franklin Education Association (FEA), Franklin Education Support Professionals Association (FESPA) and the Franklin Middle School Parents Adventuring with Students (PAWS) for a forum of the Franklin School Board candidates in the Franklin High School multipurpose room.
Bring your questions and concerns!
_______________________________
Read my School Board Candidate Interviews à here
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By Janet Evans
Tuesday, Mar 4 2008, 08:57 PM
The following is on the Franklin Public Schools website:
News Flash Issues
Some parents have reported that they are not receiving their monthly newsletters or news flash updates since November of last year. Because of strong anti-spam filters provided by many email carriers, district messages are blocked by carriers like AOL, Yahoo, Hotmail, etc. before they even reach email inboxes. The district is aware of this problem and is working on a solution. and Today the following was sent out via email to those signed-up for News flash updates:
Hello,
Please be informed that our news flash system will be used solely for newsletters and crisis situations active TODAY. We have become marked as spam by many email carriers because of recent increased usage. In order for this to continue to be a tool that is useful for our district, we must scale back.
As of TODAY, we will not be able to send out fliers from the district or outside organizations. As of TODAY, we will only be using this system to send our electronic newsletters and any crisis information that may need to be sent.
Email carriers have strengthened their spam filters which filter out "bad" messages before they reach their customers. Because of the number of spammers today, many things are filtered out for many different reasons. Some of the reasons for filtration may be: Frequency of items sent, photos being used within messages, certain words like free, links to other web sites and much more.
If you hear from other parents or community members that they are no longer receiving messages, please share this information with them. If they have not be receiving messages for a while now, encourage them to write to their carrier to have messages from @franklin.k12.wi.us allowed through to their mailbox.
Thank you,
Franklin Public School District
________________________________
So, let's review....
Our District Communications "Specialist," Tanya Ruder, has been sending out email "news flashes" and since November of 2007 citizens have not been receiving them. They have been going into Spam.
These email communications include "crisis situation" emails.
It has been stressed at Board meetings how important communication with citizens is and needs to be improved.
It has been stressed at the Be Heard! meetings that citizens have not been kept informed and this needs to be addressed.
Our tech department at Franklin Public Schools needs to look into what in the address that is used to send out News flash correspondence makes it considered Spam.
On the receiving end, it isn't very difficult to add an email address to your accepted addresses in your antivirus program.
To take steps backwards regarding correspondence because there is a glitch is ridiculous.
And why the two different messsages here...
The website states the District is looking into the problem.
The email states information needs to be scaled back.
Which is it, Tanya?
Why scale back on sending out information?
Someone is dropping the ball here.....
Fix the problem.
And a little hint for the future, Tanya...
If you want to see just how correspondence looks when it is sent out...it's the same as with snail mail...
Send yourself a copy to your home email......see if it goes into YOUR spam folder.
Maybe it won't take you almost four months to find out there is a problem next time.
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By Janet Evans
Monday, Mar 3 2008, 08:38 PM
Well, this isn’t pretty….
Matter of fact the whole thing is just plain ugly.
Any way you think about it.
I picked up a news magazine today and saw an article that hit me between the eyes....
"School board members brace for local budgets"
Well, I don't know why I would be interested in school boards....But I was!
from e School News:
"School board members from across the country say local school budgets are in for a hit, and they’re bracing for leaner times forced by the nation’s economic downturn."
"Board members in Washington, D.C., last week for an annual conference said shortfalls in state budgets, coupled with pessimistic predictions about local revenues, are forcing them to look for ways to trim next school year’s budgets, which they are working on now."
Holy cow!
This doesn't sound good for Wisconsin.
This doesn't sound good for Franklin.
Now, at the last few School Board meetings I have attended, I have heard it said, loud and clear, there will be no referendum for quite some time.
Well, with what I have read today, I don't see how thoughts of another referendum should even be considered until some real thought is put into what our district really needs.
Forget about this "move forward" business.
According to the article I read, the new buzz phrase should be "wait and see."
The drop in the housing market is one vicious animal that's going to eventually lead to our property taxes shooting higher than ever. And over half of the states are projected to have budget shortfalls. And guess what...Wisconsin is among those states.
So our School Board is going to have to make some tough decisions in the near future.
Let's hope they first start with cutting the fat at the top and stop giving the Administrators raises.
Because it's going to be awfully hard to explain to the District why they can cut teachers and support staff, and cut programs, if they don't start with the Administration first.
They need to freeze their salaries before major budget problems start happening.
We need to think hard about which of the four School Board candidates we want to elect in April.
We need to remember who they will be working with on that Board.
We need to, instead of moving forward, think back, to how this Board functions.
This is real.
This isn't just Wisconsin, this is going to happen all over the nation.
I wonder when this will be talked about at a School Board meeting?
If I know about it, surely the Board must know.
Read School Board Members Brace for Local Budget Cuts í here
and
21 States Face Total Budget Shortfall of at Least $36 Billion in 2009 í here | |
