DCPS Central Services Budget Cuts

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Y'all suck. You're talking about real people. I know a few of the folks in Central that have been cut. Their positions are valuable and they are doing meaningful work. The issue is not that cuts need to be made, it is which cuts. And to be honest, there are some Divisions and Offices at Central that provide very little service. And the same can be said for some positions at some schools which have bloated budgets, too. DCPS schools have an incredible amount of resources compared to the rest of the nation... and for what? Where's the data showing that any of it is working?

I’m sorry they are losing their jobs. But if they would like to stay employed in DC, they can certainly apply for a teaching position.

This is factually inaccurate. The issue is cutting the administrative support for already struggling teachers. The schools will be very hurt by the Central Offices cut. It is the wrong move.

Our teachers constantly complain that they get no admin support from DCPS Central. Leave requests never approved. Paychecks that are wrong or don't come.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Y'all suck. You're talking about real people. I know a few of the folks in Central that have been cut. Their positions are valuable and they are doing meaningful work. The issue is not that cuts need to be made, it is which cuts. And to be honest, there are some Divisions and Offices at Central that provide very little service. And the same can be said for some positions at some schools which have bloated budgets, too. DCPS schools have an incredible amount of resources compared to the rest of the nation... and for what? Where's the data showing that any of it is working?

I’m sorry they are losing their jobs. But if they would like to stay employed in DC, they can certainly apply for a teaching position.

This is factually inaccurate. The issue is cutting the administrative support for already struggling teachers. The schools will be very hurt by the Central Offices cut. It is the wrong move.

Our teachers constantly complain that they get no admin support from DCPS Central. Leave requests never approved. Paychecks that are wrong or don't come.

Right, because they keep getting cut. They don't have enough admin support already. Let alone with the upcoming cuts.

[Anonymous]

So how is it that we spend so much on Central compared to other districts and don't get as much? What are we missing?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Y'all suck. You're talking about real people. I know a few of the folks in Central that have been cut. Their positions are valuable and they are doing meaningful work. The issue is not that cuts need to be made, it is which cuts. And to be honest, there are some Divisions and Offices at Central that provide very little service. And the same can be said for some positions at some schools which have bloated budgets, too. DCPS schools have an incredible amount of resources compared to the rest of the nation... and for what? Where's the data showing that any of it is working?

Central office is an abomination. Good riddance.

-Parent

[Anonymous]

The positions that I’m aware of that have been cut are the positions that directly support schools and that will be missed schools. Trust me, schools are going to continue to expect certain services and products to be purchased by central, and that’s not going to be possible moving forward. It may *seem* like moving the money to schools is good, but as someone who has worked in both settings, I can assure you it will have more of negative impact than positive.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The positions that I’m aware of that have been cut are the positions that directly support schools and that will be missed schools. Trust me, schools are going to continue to expect certain services and products to be purchased by central, and that’s not going to be possible moving forward. It may *seem* like moving the money to schools is good, but as someone who has worked in both settings, I can assure you it will have more of negative impact than positive.

Maybe we can finally get rid of zearn and iready replacing real instruction!

[Anonymous]

Has everyone who has been laid off at Central Office been notified?

[Anonymous]

Is something able to see how much central spends on each app?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Has everyone who has been laid off at Central Office been notified?

Yes, for the cuts that were already made. But this newest move by the city council would probably require more job cuts in the central office. That is if it passes and becomes law.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Y'all suck. You're talking about real people. I know a few of the folks in Central that have been cut. Their positions are valuable and they are doing meaningful work. The issue is not that cuts need to be made, it is which cuts. And to be honest, there are some Divisions and Offices at Central that provide very little service. And the same can be said for some positions at some schools which have bloated budgets, too. DCPS schools have an incredible amount of resources compared to the rest of the nation... and for what? Where's the data showing that any of it is working?

I’m sorry they are losing their jobs. But if they would like to stay employed in DC, they can certainly apply for a teaching position.

This is factually inaccurate. The issue is cutting the administrative support for already struggling teachers. The schools will be very hurt by the Central Offices cut. It is the wrong move.

"Administrative support" for struggling teachers does not exist in dcps...

[Anonymous]

central office doesn't support anybody. you reach out and they don't respond....

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:central office doesn't support anybody. you reach out and they don't respond....

This is most definitely not true of everyone. I’m not saying all teams are equal in their responsiveness or efficacy, but the cuts unfortunately were not done in a way to keep the staff who do their job well.

[Anonymous]

There are a lot of assumptions being made on this thread by people who don't really understand the DCPS total budget, how much different things cost, what Central Office does or why. Having worked there for several years (not anymore), the vast majority of people working there deeply care about schools and students, and many are former DCPS teachers and current DCPS parents. You may not care about some of the work that happens there, but the vast majority are things that are needed to make the district function, and as a DCPS parent, I'm sad the cuts were necessary. The things that people are complaining about on this thread aren't going to get better with fewer staff and resources there.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:There are a lot of assumptions being made on this thread by people who don't really understand the DCPS total budget, how much different things cost, what Central Office does or why. Having worked there for several years (not anymore), the vast majority of people working there deeply care about schools and students, and many are former DCPS teachers and current DCPS parents. You may not care about some of the work that happens there, but the vast majority are things that are needed to make the district function, and as a DCPS parent, I'm sad the cuts were necessary. The things that people are complaining about on this thread aren't going to get better with fewer staff and resources there.

I appreciate your perspective but from my perspective there are a lot of positions that aren’t necessary. The number of people working in curriculum who just force teachers to do a new curriculum every few years is absurd. This is a district that spent a million dollars printing eureka books the first year that sat in boxes in the warehouse. Then the guy who championed this curriculum got fired and it just fell by the wayside for the next new fad. All of the extra testing is a waste of money (CAPE, MAP, iReady, reading inventory, STAMP, etc.). What has that gotten the district? Our scores suck, our attendance sucks, teacher morale sucks, kid’s behavior sucks.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:central office doesn't support anybody. you reach out and they don't respond....

This is most definitely not true of everyone. I’m not saying all teams are equal in their responsiveness or efficacy, but the cuts unfortunately were not done in a way to keep the staff who do their job well.

Well that's no surprise. If DCPS required solid performance, there would be no bloat. Of course, cutting only weak performers would mean losing our mayor and chancellor.