APS budget is unacceptable

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Please keep up. Show me what budget impact taking these weeks away from staff will do. How much more money to the bottom line will it add?

Answer: It will not add to the bottom line of more money to give teachers. It’s an intangible cost. And it keeps people who do the real work at Syphax.

It's not a couple of days, but weeks of vacation. That does have a huge cost. Stuff doesn't get done. Teacher vacancies don't get filled. Substitutes don't get hired. Teacher questions to HR don't get answered promptly. Test scores are delayed being sent to parents. Bus routes aren't fixed. School capacity calculations and redistricting proposals aren't thought out or verified. Trainings for teachers are half assed. Curriculum decisions aren't fully vetted. And on and on. Syphax had huge issues with quality and responsiveness before giving themselves a bunch more vacation.

Ok but these points are about efficiency and responsiveness of the employees. That's different from budget, which is what this post is about. Is there an actual cost in dollars or not?

Of course it matters to budget. With less vacation the work could get done with fewer people.

It also matters because poor Syphax work product is getting pushed out to schools and parents, which eats up teacher and administrative time and leads to requests for more school level staffing.

Ok, I will bite. What work is not getting done? And how do you know this is because of vacation time and not just due to incompetence/laziness?

“Just” HA!

I think when Ann Irby retired everything in HR went into chaos, not working on breaks is probably not helping but I don't think it's the cause of that dysfunction.

[Anonymous]

Thank you. The vacation mafia is focused on the wrong issue

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Thank you. The vacation mafia is focused on the wrong issue

A previous poster a said it best… it is a terrible look to suddenly grant certain employees THREE weeks of leave, especially as the vast majority of them already have high salaries and perks like teleworking.

The issues are not just with HR. They are throughout- finance, procurement, ridiculous initiatives that smack of being out of touch (have you read the proposed strategic plan?!). You can’t get a question answered because they’re always off taking the other three weeks they get… even the buildings aren’t maintained as well, though I don’t begrudge the custodians the leave. They deserve anything they get… but there’s a definite difference when you come in after Spring Break and Winter Break now.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Thank you. The vacation mafia is focused on the wrong issue

I’m sorry, but there is no way you can’t see the impact in the budget, operations, and everything else.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Thank you. The vacation mafia is focused on the wrong issue

A previous poster a said it best… it is a terrible look to suddenly grant certain employees THREE weeks of leave, especially as the vast majority of them already have high salaries and perks like teleworking.

The issues are not just with HR. They are throughout- finance, procurement, ridiculous initiatives that smack of being out of touch (have you read the proposed strategic plan?!). You can’t get a question answered because they’re always off taking the other three weeks they get… even the buildings aren’t maintained as well, though I don’t begrudge the custodians the leave. They deserve anything they get… but there’s a definite difference when you come in after Spring Break and Winter Break now.

Don’t give syphax ideas. They’ll send the janitors back to work on breaks and keep the paid days off for themselves.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Thank you. The vacation mafia is focused on the wrong issue

I’m sorry, but there is no way you can’t see the impact in the budget, operations, and everything else.

I just don't think this is the root of all the problems you describe.

[Anonymous]

46 pages later and I’m still not seeing how taking away holidays for Syphax staff is going to magically fund teacher salaries, recruitment and smaller class sizes.

[Anonymous]

Rolling back the *additional* three weeks of paid leave will not solve all of APS’s problems, true. It’s one of many steps that needs to be taken.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Thank you. The vacation mafia is focused on the wrong issue

A previous poster a said it best… it is a terrible look to suddenly grant certain employees THREE weeks of leave, especially as the vast majority of them already have high salaries and perks like teleworking.

The issues are not just with HR. They are throughout- finance, procurement, ridiculous initiatives that smack of being out of touch (have you read the proposed strategic plan?!). You can’t get a question answered because they’re always off taking the other three weeks they get… even the buildings aren’t maintained as well, though I don’t begrudge the custodians the leave. They deserve anything they get… but there’s a definite difference when you come in after Spring Break and Winter Break now.

What's the difference now? Are they not getting deep cleaned or are facilities not being maintained?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:46 pages later and I’m still not seeing how taking away holidays for Syphax staff is going to magically fund teacher salaries, recruitment and smaller class sizes.

Thank you. Can we move on now to teacher salaries and smaller class sizes?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:46 pages later and I’m still not seeing how taking away holidays for Syphax staff is going to magically fund teacher salaries, recruitment and smaller class sizes.

Thank you. Can we move on now to teacher salaries and smaller class sizes?

Get rid of extra Syphax vacay = don’t need as many Syphax staff to get the jobs done = move extra staff into teaching positions

Obviously there’s so much more to be done, but they need to approach the problem from every angle possible at this point.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Thank you. The vacation mafia is focused on the wrong issue

I’m sorry, but there is no way you can’t see the impact in the budget, operations, and everything else.

I just don't think this is the root of all the problems you describe.

DP. It's not. It is a symptom and a big symbol.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Thank you. The vacation mafia is focused on the wrong issue

I’m sorry, but there is no way you can’t see the impact in the budget, operations, and everything else.

I just don't think this is the root of all the problems you describe.

DP. It's not. It is a symptom and a big symbol.

Yes, it's a symbol and just that. Can we move on now to the REAL things that impact students and teachers?

[Anonymous]

So the county approved a 2 cent tax increase. How will this help?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Thank you. The vacation mafia is focused on the wrong issue

I’m sorry, but there is no way you can’t see the impact in the budget, operations, and everything else.

I just don't think this is the root of all the problems you describe.

DP. It's not. It is a symptom and a big symbol.

Yes, it's a symbol and just that. Can we move on now to the REAL things that impact students and teachers?

Someone really wants to protect their time off.

More vacation for ineffective central office staff = more staff required to get the job done and less money for in school needs. HR has been a shambles now for years. That means subs aren’t getting hired, after school staff isn’t getting hired, and teachers aren’t being supported and vacancies are going unfilled. That affects day to day operations at the schools and affects the quality of learning in the schools.