250 School Jobs Could Be Cut in Alexandria, LA

The Alexandria, LA, Daily Town Talk ^ | 03-25-03 | Peters, Emily

[Theodore R.]

More than 250 school employees in Rapides Parish could be out of a job next school year if the latest budget-slashing suggestions are adopted.

Suggested personnel cuts include 171 certified teachers, librarians and counselors, 13 Central Office workers and 31 custodians.

[Theodore R.]

The proposed cuts do not specifically list any duplicate and unnecessary administrative positions to be eliminated. I wonder if administration would ultimately take any reductions in force.

[lawdude]

"Elementary assistant principals may be eliminated. Also, principals at other schools may have to decide between having an assistant principal or a curriculum coordinator, but not have both"

This makes it sound as though a single person could not do both functions. Well, if the persons were products of the public school system, that might just be the case.

[Theodore R.]

Yea, this kind of "administrative cut" is really just shuffling desks around. Thee is too much administration in all public schools. Why? Because the NEA or NEA-type organizations really run the schools

[zerosix]

At our local school district, the superintendent has a "cabinet" of at least 8 persons (each earning $100,00 + benefits). Teachers have at least one aid.

Every time we refuse to vote for tax increases, this bunch goes on a whining trip that is unbelieveable. They go public with, "We must cut out nurses, etc."

[AdA$tra]

I would think the removal of a few overpaid, redundant administrators would do the trick instead. In our local public school system, which I fund but choose not to patronize, many of the high paid administrators are failed teachers or principals who knew the right person at the right time and ended up in the castle on the hill. Eventually the public school system will collapse upon itself. Mark my words.

[ladylib]

Transportation is another favorite. There's is too much fluff at the top. A town in my county even had a "self-esteem" counselor, but no algebra textbooks for their students. One girl complained about it to the press, and the next day, a school spokesman said the teachers were so talented, students didn't need textbooks.

This is a failing district which was taken over by the state. Nepotism reigns.

PUBLIC EDUCATION IS A RACKET.

[valkyrieanne]

Why not cut the sports programs?

[Theodore R.]

The public school system may collapse, but when it does, the bloated buraucracy will still be around drawing taxpayer subsidies, and they will call it "non-collapse" or "revitalization," or "decentralization," in Orwellian language.

[Theodore R.]

Another thing many do not know: "Spring Break" started in most school districts only after bloated bureaucrats began to "earn" enough taxpayer money to be able to afford week-long skiing vacations. And they wanted these the second week of March while the snow was still full in places like CO, ID, and UT. That's why districts have a "Spring Break" and then some three weeks later a shorter "Easter Break." It's all for the convenience of highly-paid administrators, and the taxpayers can't figure out what hits them. Remember there were no "Spring Breaks" in the 1950 and 1960s. I don't think that they started until the late 1970s.

[Theodore R.]

"Sports" is the lifeblood of public schools. In fact, the author Jeffrey Hart once wrote that sports has become the "religion" of Americans in the late twentieth and early twenty-first centuries. There would neve be another school tax approved if sports were cut, particularly football!

[af_vet_rr]

Yeah, but you have to admit when you see multi-million dollar football stadiums for high school kids, it's just stupid and a waste of money. Most of us who are older didn't play in what was much more than a pasture.

[Theodore R.]

Well, I had not thought about the lavish spending on sports stadiums for high schoolers. I do not know how common that is in LA, particularly in the small towns. It is true that the one person unprotected from easy dismissal in schools is the coach who does not win games!

[valkyrieanne]

The tax increases aren't doing a lot of good if the money is just going down the drain of football.